A Devil in Equestria
by Noxfero
Summary: It was such a normal day in Hell... until a stupid invention opened a stupid portal that send an Archidevil and his minion in a land of colorfull ponies and good feelings. T for language. reviews greatly appreciated.
1. Lust

Ok, no Pony in this cap, It's just the introduction, I promise there will be pony from the next one!

-oOo-

Just another normal day in hell

He opened his eyes, focusing the black narrow pupils on the black ceiling of his room. He blinked a couple of times, while stretching his bat-wing ears. He moved the blankets, sitting on the edge of the bed, yawning and scratching his belly, before standing up and moving towards the heavy purple curtains that were standing in front of the only windows of the room. With a grunt he pulled back the fabric.

A bright red light entered the room. Satisfied, he moved toward the great mirror on the wall.

"Hi love, are you doing today?" He asked with a mocking tone at the mirror.

"Kill me already…" panted the hide of a human female, that was used as a frame for the mirror.

"Sorry, no can do." He scoffed, looking at his reflection: two meters tall, thin as a nail, scruffed black hair, bat-wing ears, red eyes with black vertical pupils, long black nails, big black membranous wings on his back, long and sharp arrow-shaped tail. That was him. He looked at the scar on his chest: an upside down star was burned on his flesh like a mark, evident against his pale skin.

"You are condemned to pass eternity here. You should have thought about that before killing your sister to take her man." He snikered to the mirror's human frame, while searching for his clothes: his favourite black trouser, his favourite black shoes, his favourite black shirt and his favourite black jacket.

"Favourite… I don't have anything else." He growled, looking at his reflex. Than turned around, grabbed his black organic-contained slime raincoat and left the room, directed toward the kitchen.

Just another normal day in hell.

When he entered the kitchen, he noticed three other creatures sitting at the dark metallic table: a muscular man in a simple dress and a short bush of blond hair was gnawing at the rest of a bone, while on the other side of the table, the other two were simply playing some card game.

"Checkmate!" exclaimed one of the two, a creature with the head of the shape and dimension of a football with long black hair, two big round eyes with tiny pupils, an enormous stupid smile, a ridiculous conic body and limbs similar to black wire, and he smashed on the table two play cards, two tarot cards and a photo, grinning happily.

The other one facepalmed, groaning.

"Remind me why I try to spend time with you".

Then he raised his frowning eyes and spotted the new arrival in the kitchen. "Oh. Morning dad."

The creature with the round-shaped head turned and smiled. "Hey Noxy, what can I prepare for you this fine morning?" He exclaimed happily, jumping towards the stove in a "kiss-the-cook" apron.

"Morning master!" waved the man, spitting the cleaned bone on the floor.

Noxfero waved at his son and his servants, falling on a chair.

"Hellish day everyone. Just a cold cup of virgin's blood Jac, I need to wake up"

The little demon nodded and poured some red liquid from a brightly colored carton in a skull-shaped cup.

"By the way, this blood is getting more and more expensive. I think we should change diet for a bit."

"What do you expect, it's increasingly rarer every day…" groaned Noxfero, resting his head on the table. "Is there something I should know about today?"

"Well yes, indeed." began Jaco, placing the blood filled cup on the table. "You have to go to Mammon's place to talk about the division of the soul of the evil millionaire that will die in two days, then you have to check the new improved torture machine at the laboratories, torture some souls, and then you have been invitated to Lilith's place tonight" listed the little demon, standing on a chair.

"Ok…no to all, except Lilith" mumbled Noxfero, chugging his virgin's blood.

"Mom called." stated the other one. A little version of Noxfero. Same hair, same raincoat, same posture. The only differences were the absence of a nose and the constantly frowning eyes and mouth.

"She'll like to see us."

"Junior, I doubt it. She is much too busy pulling the threads of chaos in the mortal world with her new boyfriend…" he snarled "What was his name Jac?"

"Ctutulu or something"

"Yeah, her boss if I'm not mistaken. I mean, they have to destroy humans bit by bit, I don't think Eris will have time for us. Sorry kiddo."

Junior said nothing, staring at the table.

"Err…listen kid, do you want to go to Mammon's place, speaking about that soul? Pondering about others pain will cheer you up."

Junior just nodded, jumping down off the chair and walking out of the room.

"Well done Noxy!" exclaimed Jaco, patting Noxfero's thigh, the highest spot he could reach. The other one just kicked him in the eye.

"If there is nothing else, I'll go read something…" groaned Noxfero, throwing the cup at Jaco's head before walking away, yawning again.

"Actually, Pumpkinhead asked if you could join him in the dungeons as soon as possible…actually, now." stated the little demon, rubbing his head.

"Hum…as far as I remember, the dungeons are under this castle, while Lilith is on another floor of hell, so, I suppose I'll go there. Move your ass, Jac." said Noxfero.

The little devil nodded and followed him, waving at the man while walking out.

-oOo-

-Stump-

-Stump-

-Stump-

-Sbam-

With a smash, the heavy metallic door of the dungeons flew open, thanks to the impact force of a flying Jaco that hit the door at high speed with good part of his face.

Just another normal day in hell.

"Ah, Jaco… and master Noxfero! That's perfect!" exclaimed the pumpkin headed scarecrow in a lab suit, greeting the two demons with a smile on his carved face.

"I assume the sounds I was hearing were you hitting Jaco through all the corridors, yes?"

"Indeed I was." grinned Noxfero, flapping his ears. "Now tell me, what's the matter?"

"Ah, yes yes. My newest invention!" the scarecraw declared happily, jumping towards the depths of the dungeon's cellar. Noxfero followed him, grabbing Jaco with his tail and dragging him behind them.

"You know, I was always interested by the science of portals, dimensional traveling and these kind of things. So I began studying the portals you and your fellows Archdevils create for traveling to the mortal world or to Heaven, and in the end, I managed to create a machine that is capable of…breaking the fourth wall!"

"Breaking the what now?" asked the demon, scratching his head. Sometimes Pumpkinhead would start talking stranger then usual…

"That's not important! The problem is that I don't have the energy to get it work. I tried with burning souls, but it's not enough, and I was wondering…."

"If I can power it up? No problemo. Let's be quick."

"Wonderful! Here we are, master!" the scarecrow pointed to a couple of high metallic columns, inscribed with red paint -yeah paint…shure- connected to an enormous number of cables and pipes, all leading to an orb, resting on a high pedestal.

"Ok, you just need to use your power on the orb, while i will calibrate the power over there, on the console behind the protective shield."

Noxfero nodded, placing his hands on the orb while Jaco, who had placed himself in one of the large pocket of the raincoat, was looking with curiosity at the two columns.

"Ready when you are!" shouted the scarecrow, now wearing protective googles.

The devil looked with boredom at the orb, while his powers began to rise, engulfing his form like a dancing shadow. It flowed into the orb, which began crackling and sparkling.

"Ok, flow of energy constant… keep it up, master."

The shadows continued whirling around the demon's form and the orb, while the paint on the columns began to glow and the cables began buzzing like a hive of killer bees. Blue sparks began to slide between the columns. Pumpkinhead was pressing something behind the shield, while the energy level was increasing.

With a flash and a booming sound, a blue-white colored vortex appeared between the pillars, howling furiously as dust and some papers were sucked in into.

"AH! I did it! I'm the master of all the scientists! Did you see that master? We could travel anywhere! Muahahahah!"

Jaco raised his eyes, while the raincoat was flapping, moved by the air being sucked in the vortex. Noxfero still had his hands on the globe, a terrified expression in his eyes.

"Pumpkinhead! Stop the machine!" shouted the little demon.

"Uh? Why?"

Noxfero suddenly shouted: "It's sucking all my powers! Turn it off! Turn this thing off!" The devil tried to pull away his hands, but they were glued to the orb's surface.

The scarecrow began tapping on the console, while he began to panic.

"It's all under control boss, don't worry! Let's pull this and…"

The machine roared, and the gentle wind of the vortex transformed in a typhoon, while the orb was shining.

"The fuuuuuu!"

The orb exploded, sending Noxfero to the ground. The devil planted his black nails in the ground while the vortex sucked in the shattered orb and pedestal, trying to fight the power of the vortex.

"Resist master, the power is fading, resist!"

Noxfero grunted, then turned when he heared a scream: Jaco had fallen out of his pocket and was now trying to resist the vortex, but his pathetic little fingers couldn't resist the power of the wind. His fingers slipped, and began to fly towards the vortex

Noxfero groaned, then freed his claws and drifted toward the little devil, grabbing him with his tail while being sucked into the blue-white shimmer.

"Nox! You really care about me!"

"I'm already regretting this!"

The last thing he saw before he blacked out due to a sudden pain was the image of the dungeon beginning to collapse, the pipes dislodging, the columns falling and the scarecrow shouthing something in distress.

Then, he blacked out, accompanied by Jaco's girly scream.

Just another normal day in hell… more or less…


	2. Gluttony

The wind whistled like crazy in the devil's ears, accompanied by the little demon screaming.

Noxfero opened his eyes, groaning: he had the delightful visin of a forest, far below him, getting closer evry second. He moved his eyes: he was falling, rolling in the air, while Jaco was grabbing at his tail, screaming in a very feminine way.

"Nox! Do something, I don't want to die!"

"We are already dead idiot, we can't die again!" shouted back the devil, rolling in the air and getting a parallel position to the ground

"Well, I'll appreciate anyway the absence of pain." stated the little demon, suddenly calm. Noxfero groaned, his ears flapping due to the air, then spread his wings: that was the good of his raincoat, he could easily hide his wings under it, and if it was the necessity, he could just open them, passing through the fabric.

His big membranous wings snapped open, flinching from the strength of the air. The devil bared his fangs as his wings were pulled back.

"Fuck, that's hurting…" he growled, trying to keep his wings open to slow down the fall. With a loud snap, one of the wings twisted back, lifeless. The demon growled in pain, while flapping the other wing frantically.

"Mh… I think your wing is broken… I suppose the fall is going to hurt…" stated the little demon.

-oOo-

"Wow, that didn't hurt at all!" Jaco exclaimed happly , walking off the smashed body of the bigger demon.

"You fucking used me as a damper!" growled Noxfero, standing up slowly and kicking the little demon. He pressed one hand on his chest cautiously, then sniffed the air while furling under the raincoat his still whole wing.

"Two broken ribs, wing thorned… well, not soo bad." said the demon, pulling his broken wing under his raincoat with one arm.

"Yeah! You will regenerate in a jiffy!" smiled the little demon, jumping on one of the trees.

"I fear that it's not going to be so easy…" growled the demon "When we will be back at home, I'll send Pumpkinhead to clean the bottom of the Pit of Despair…"

"Wait, why can't you?" asked the litte demon, swinging upside down from a branch.

"That stupid machine sucked out all my powers" shouted the demon, punching Jaco's face, pressing it against the tree. "And in the air here there isn't a single trace of Envy… or any other sins for that matter… And if I can't absorb any sins, I'm without powers, including regenerative powers." He groaned, holding his belly. "That would explain why I'm so hungry."

Jaco fell on the ground, taking off wood splinters from his head. "Maybe it's just because here there are only animals. But I saw a village not far away from this forest or whatever this thing is. Maybe there are people and sinners."

Noxfero scratched his chin with a black nail "That's a plan...well done Jaco" he praised him, stomping on him as he walked away.

-oOo-

"Why in the name of the abyss is there no one here?" asked the demon, jumping out from the bush where he was hiding. It had been half an hour, and he hadn't seen anyone in the little town.

"Well… no one to be seen…and not a single sin in the air…" He snarled.

"Oh come on! If there is something you taught me it's that everyone is more or less a sinner." said Jaco, walking along the street as he looked at all those bright colored houses.

"Yes…there is a little bit of gluttony in the air… a sprinkle of pride… but nothing more." He groaned again, licking his lips. "I'll just have to regain energy in the old, rough way: eating something. And eating a lot, I'll add." Then he raised his nose, sniffing the air. "Ugh… It's hard to find food's scent with all this equine stench in the air."

"Oh, horsey!" screamed Jaco, receiving a kick in the face (again).

"I hate horses" mumbled the demon, following the most strongest scent of food he could sense: after a couple of minutes, they were standing in front of a building that seemed to be crafted with sweets. The smell of sugar was overwhelming, and the door was no match for the devil's claw.

"Oh…for… my… glucosic god! Look at all this stuff!" yelped Jaco, walking inside and looking at all the treats. Noxfero was already gulping one cake after another, while the little demon approached a group of chocolate candies. "Hey Nox, do you think we should leave some money or something? This is almost like stealing." The demon rose his face from the rest of a cake, looking at the other one with an exasperated look on his face.

Jaco sighed, beginning to eat the candies "Never mind…"

-oOo-

After ten minutes, all the sweets were finished, gulped rushly by the two creatures, that started searching for another place to plunder. Unfortunately for Noxfero, in all of them they could find only flowers, salad and every kind of veggis.

"Oh come on! No meat? Come on, I can't absorb these things!" groaned the demon, while leaving out from another house.

"They are tasty." shrugged Jaco, gulping an entire tomato. "Listen, let's just split, you keep the veggies for me, and I'll keep the meat for you. Deal?"

"I'm the one supposed to make deals around here…" huffed Noxfero, before nodding. "Deal. And don't do anything stupid."

"Who, me? When have I ever done something stupid?"

"Do I have to answer that?"

"Better not."

-oOo-

Noxfero was fuming: he had four pockets full of vegetables, and he hadn't managed to find a single chunk of meat. Angrily, he smashed the door of another building; an elegant looking one with (he couldn't explain why) a horse silhouette as an insignia. On the inside, it was something like a dress shop, or similar. The demon huffed, looking around: it seemed to be a boutique for horses, judging by the dummies.

"Small horses… what kind of sick place is this? A horses centered theocracy? This is just creepy…" he mumbled, looking around for food. In the kitchen he found only a couple of eggs that he swallowed whole, but nothing else.

"I'm hungry!" he whined to no one in particular, sniffing around: still equine smell, cat smell, and nothing else. He groaned, frustrated: maybe on the second floor there was something. He stepped on the stairs, sniffing around.

"Fabrics, cat hairs… man, is there really nothing?"

"I know, can you believe it?"

Noxfero jumped when Jaco popped out of a vase, smiling. That cost him a punch in the mouth.

"Don't…do that anymore…." Panted the big one, opening one room: it was a large room, half occupied by a big bed, while the other half was full of fabric and dummies.

"Seems like the creation room of someone." stated Jaco, walking towards a mirror table on one side of the room, looking around at the makeup. Noxfero groaned and looked around: no food.

"I'll need a lot of time to regain my powers…" moaned, sitting on the bed.

"Hey! Hey Nox, watch this!" exclaimed Jaco, turning to the other demon: he had put white makeup all over his face, red lipstick on his lips and over the edge of his enormous smile, and two stains of black foundation around his eyes. He cleared his throat, then muttered in a dark voice: "It's simple… we kill the Batman."

"After the tenth time that is not funny anymore." sknikered Noxfero. Then his ears rose up: there were sounds outside. Rumors of hooves and voices, getting louder and louder. They were talking about something called "run of the leaves" or something like that.

"Ok…ok let's not panic… it's not like some cultist of a pony-centric religion is going to come here… isn't it?" asked nervously the little demon, wipping the makeup from his face. The other one just raised his ears: there were sounds all around, but suddenly he heard the rumble of numerous gasps all over the street. Of course. The smashed doors.

"Oh for Celestia sake! Sweetie hurry up! Check upstairs if anything is missing, i'll look here… all my work…" spoke a melodic and melodramatic voice, followed by a more younger and sweeter one.

"I got it, sis." Then the sounds of steps on the stairs.

"Uh, someone! Maybe they can help us to-" The little demon was cut off when Noxfero grabbed him by his face, putting him into one of his pockets. Then he crouched on the other side of the bed, preparing to leap on whoever was going to show their face. The door opened, followed by the light sounds of steps. When the devil saw the movement, he jumped, grabbing the creature by its neck and raised his other hand, ready to pin his claws into its flesh.

It was a filly. A white, little filly with a curled pink-violet mane, and two scared olive eyes staring at the demon. Noxfero was too surprised to do anything, while his brain was trying to elaborate what his eyes were showing him. Leaving the little filly time to react.

"RARITY!" she shouted with all her might. Noxfero snapped back to reality, and threw the little filly on the bed, growling, before he moved his eyes around, searching for an exit: his eyes stopped on the big window, and he began approaching it. But before he could reach it, something extremely heavy hit the side of his head.

"Stay away from my sister, you brute!" shouted the same melodramatic voice he had heared before: a white mare with a curled purple mane was at the door, while a sewing machine stained with the demon's blood was floating at her side, engulfed in an azure aura.

"That's what I'm trying to do, marshmallow bitch" was the answer in the demon's brain, but his mouth just growled, baring his fangs. Then his body reacted instinctively: his wings snapped open in an intimidating way, his muscles forcing the broken one to open flatly, despite the broken bones. He dropped on all fours, and roared.

Between all the archdevil, Noxfero could boast the most magnificent roar: it was a combination of a Dragon's roar, a Balrog's scream and a Nazgul's screech. Even the boss said that was the best roar in Hell.

And that was the roar that he emitted, terrorizing the mare and the filly. He could also hear outside the sounds of terrorized creatures. Taking advantage of the frightened look on the mare's face, Noxfero turned towards the window and jumped out.

He landed with a scream of pain, while his broken ribs cringed inside his chest. Around him, there were terrorized little horses thet were runnin away from him.

"That's good…back into the forest…" he mumbled, dragging himself along the street.

"Somepony stop that ruffian!" screamed the melodramatic voice.

"Ah'm on that partner!" shouted another mare with an orange coat and blond mane, charging at the devil.

"Are you really kidding me?" growled Noxfero, dodging the mare and beginning to run on all fours towards the forest. Another mare, a flying one this time, darted on him and hit him in his back, trying to pin him to the ground. The devil just grabbed her rainbow colored tail and tossed her away, still running. A purple one began shooting something from a horn on her forehead, hitting his wing, but he continued running. A big red stallion went out from a side way, hitting him with his hindlegs, smashing another couple of ribs, but the demon continued to run.

But then suddenly, a pink blur smashed in front of his face, shouting: "Hi there, who are you?" The impact was so strong that Noxfero stumbled to the ground, hitting his nape on the edge of a house. At that moment, his brain decided that he had enough, and decided to close up.


	3. Pride

"Ah don't know Twilight. For what Ah reckon, predators have to stay in the Everfree Forest, not in mah farm." mumbled a blurry, southern voice. Noxfero waved a little his ears.

"I know. Don't worry Applejack, he is chained, it won't hurt your animals." Answered another voice.

"Oh, this poor things probably isn't able to hurt anything right now. He was so badly injured even before we stopped it. I think we should do something about it…if you are ok with that, of course…" murmured a sweet, low voice.

"Dear, that thing attacked Sweetie Belle." stated the melodramatic voice of the white coated mare that had hit him with the sewing machine.

"I… I know… but wounded animals can be extremely aggressive… Sweetie probably startled it and it just reacted." Murmured again the voice, while Noxfero felt the gentle pressure of two… hooves? Something like hooves, on his head.

"This poor creature was soo hurt! It must have four broken ribs at least, this wound on its head that Rarity gave him, and look at the wing: it's completly torn up, all the bones and joints are broken. That's enough to make an animal angry." Noxfero nodded in his own mind. The girl was almost right. "I'll just bandage this, at least…" she murmured again, and he felt again the touch of hooves on his head, and the sensation of soft bandages. And the overwhelming, strong, and horrible taste of kindness! If he had his powers, it wouldn't be a problem. But right now, it could be poison as well.

Noxfero growled, snapping his eyes open and turning the vertical irises on a yellow-butter colored little horse with a long pink mane, that was trying to tend to his injuries. "Oh good, you are awake. You took a big blow on the head and I was afraAAAAEK!" shouted the mare, jumping back when the devil snapped his jaw, an inch away from her hooves.

Noxfero bared his fangs, looking around: he was inside what seemed to be a barn, the smell of hay, apples and equines was filling the structure. In front of him, there were the little horses he had scared away: the white one with the curled mane, the purple one that had shot those strange blast of energy through his wings, and the orange one that had tried to charge him. They were all looking at him, the yellow one scared, while the other three had looks of anger and doubt on their faces.

The devil growled, then noticed something: a big black chain was locked around his neck and arms, binding him to a support column of the barn. He touched it with two nails, growling: what was he? A freaking animal?

"Calm down now, I want to help you." Muttered the yellow mare, stepping towards him again. The devil noticed two little wings on her back. "Just stay still…please?"

"Stop trying to treat that thing like one of your animals! It's dressed, it's obviously an intelligent creature." snarled the orange mare.

"That's true dear, it's obviously an intelligent, evil creature, not a beast guided by instincts" agreed the white mare, her eyes locked on the demon.

"But it needs help anyway! It can barely move!" pleaded the yellow one.

"No, I don't need it." hissed Noxfero, brushing his tail on the floor and making the yellow mare jump again, this time in surprise.

"I knew it! So what are you? What were you doing in my home?" snarled the white mare, taking a pair of steps towards the devil. He noticed only in that moment the white horn jutting out of her forehead.

Noxfero just grinned, showing his fangs again. The mare's expression grew angrier, walking towards the devil. "Don't tease me creature! You attacked my sister! What were you doing there?"

"Isn't that obvious? He was hungry!" exclaimed happily a pink mare with a bubbly pink mane, jumping out from a pile of hay. "Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie! Who are you?" asked to the demon, smiling brightly. "I also made you a cake" she added, raising in her forelegs a simple, typical cake.

"Pinkie, what are ya doing?" asked the orange mare, concerned. "Ya have to stay in bed. The hit you got when you stopped that thing was mighty heavy"

"Don't be sillly AJ, I'm ok!" smiled the pink mare, then she returned her eyes on Noxfero, raising the cake. "Do you want it?" she asked smiling. The devil blinked, then slowly leaned towards the cake, and sniffed it. "It's not poisoned, you know?" giggled the mare, while Noxfero opened his mouth and gulped half of the cake in one bite, grabbing the rest and putting it in one of his pockets.

"Heya, thanks Noxy, I was just starving in here. Also, can you take me out?" asked the voice of Jaco from inside the raincoat.

"What was that?" asked the purple mare, stepping forward. The devil punched the pocket.

"Nothing." He answered, with a sheepish smile on his cake-covered mouth.

"Ok… can we start over?" asked the mare. "I'm Twilight Sparkle. Who are you?"

"I don't remember having said that we can start ove.r" smiled the devil, licking the frosting from his lips with his forked tongue.

"Err…ok?" she mumbled, then turned towards the others, searching for support.

"What are you?" asked Pinkie. "I never seen anything like you before!" Noxfero looked at her, raising an eyebrow while the other mare approached a little. The yellow one tried again to get near his wing, but was stopped by a low growl.

"I'm a devil." blurted Noxfero, scratching the chain. "Is this thing necessary?"

"Until we can see that you are harmless." answered Twilight "What's a devil?"

"Why do you even care? I highly doubt you talking horses have something like us."

"Us? There are more like you?" she asked, leaning forward.

"Well…more or less…there are another six like me,, but there are also an infinite number of inferior minions, crafted with only the purpose of serving us." grinned the devil, waving his ears.

"That doesn't sound very nice…" murmured the pink mare, while the other one scratched her chin.

"And where do you come from?" She asked, looking into the red eyes of the other one.

He just smirked, laying down. They tried to make him talk for all the afternoon, but when the light of the sun was beginning to fade, the barn door opened and a fuming purple unicorn walked off, followed by her companions, leaving the devil chained inside, with a hoofmark on his cheek and a devious grin on his mouth.

"You really are an ass, when you try" grumbled Jaco, poking out from his pocket. "Did you have to call the one named Rarity 'prissy drama queen marshmellowy slut'? that was uncalled for, no wonder she hit you. And did you have to make the yellow one cry?" The demon just patted Jaco's head.

"My dear friend, you know that being a jerk is my reason to be, and was too easy with those equines" he snikered. The little demon huffed, then climbed the chains, reaching the lock. He put his hand inside and began moving it around, trying to open it.

"Still, you were nasty. They could have helped us. Instead you just insulted them. By the way, 'yellow-assed pussy' was another enviable insult"

"They were not insults, they were colorful examinations of reality" scoffed Noxfero, yawning. Then the devil grabbed the chains in his hands and pulled. With a low screech, the metallic rings of the chain were torn apart.

"Opened!" proudly exclaimed the little demon, then noticed the chains laying on the ground. "Oh, come on! If you could break them why didn't you stop me. Also, why didn't you run away earlier?"

"And spoil all the fun? Also, i wanted to know something about this place."

"And..?"

"Nothing. They talked about a bunch of stupid things, like a princess moving the sun and other crap." He whispered, while approaching the barn door to look outside. "well the forest is near. Let's run away from this place, I've already had enough of these talking horses."

"You know, I think those are tecnically ponies" stated Jaco, walking beside him.

"They could be the pets of the Powerpuff girls for all I care" The devil shrugged, without minding the pain in the wing, from his chest and from his skull.

"Let's just go away." He snarled, grabbing Jaco with his tail and placing him on his shoulder, and walking towards the forest.

-oOo-

"Could you please stop humping my head? It's disgusting." groaned the devil, while moving some branches.

"I'm not humping! I'm just terrified by darkness!" murmured the little devil, grabbing convulsively the other one's ears. The forest was completely dark, the only light the one of the moon, and it was full of noises that Jaco didn't appreciate.

"Seriously, you are with me, what do you have to worry about?" groaned the demon.

"Yeah, he's right, look at him. Probably could beat a dragon just by smashing a frying pan on his head."

Noxfero jumped back while Jaco emitted a hysterical scream, while a pink pony jumped out from a near bush.

"Don't sneak up on me!" shouted the demon, snarling at the pony. She just giggled and looked up with her big blue eyes.

"Are you leaving already? But I didn't even have the time to make a welcome-to-Ponyville party, and now I have to also do a goodbye party? You should have given me more time." She said, jumping in place.

Noxfero was looking at the mare with his jaw on the ground, without knowing what to say. Giving Jaco time to speak.

"He just enjoys been an asocial jerk. I'm Jaco, by the way." said the little demon, extending his tiny hand.

"Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie!" the mare responded enthusiastically, shaking his hand with her hoof. Noxfero managed to relocate his jaw.

"How did you know I was going to leave…?" managed to say the devil, blinking at the mare.

Pinkie smiled, then pointed at her tail. "That was easy: you see, my tail was twitching, my knee was hurting and my left eye was watering." She stated.

Noxfero just blinked.

"That means that somepony that I just encountered is going away before I can put together a party for him." She smiled, than took a couple of steps towards Noxfero. "Come on, come back. It will be fun, I promise. Don't be a Grumpy McGrump. There will be cake, and dancing and balloons and str-" The devil raised his hand, stopping the mare's babbling.

"Why the hell do you want to do something like that for me? I stole from your houses. I attacked your people. I treated you and your friends like trash! I'm clearly evil!"

Pinkie Pie looked at him for a few seconds, then giggled. "You are not evil, you silly colt."

"Oh boy…" murmured Jaco, looking at the other demon. He looked frostily at the mare, than began snarling, grabbing Pinkie by her shoulders and raising her in the air, pressing his nose against her muzzle, his eyes flaming with fury.

"How dare you! I'm one of the most evil creatures of the multiverse! I'm the rapresentation of the darkness that devours every heart: Envy! I'm one of the most terrifyng archdevils! Don't even try to say that I. AM. NOT. EVIL!" he shouted the end of the phrase in her face, startling some owls, witch flew away, scared. Then there was a snarl. A loud, low snarl. Jaco and Pinkie were looking past Noxfero with their eyes wide and jaw hanging open.

"Err… Pinke, can he beat that thing with a frying pan…?" murmured Jaco, terrified.


	4. Wrath

Noxfero turned slowly, still holding the pink pony: a few inches from his face there were eight violet eyes, bigger than his head, staring on him. Behind the eyes, there was a big hairy oval head, ornamented by a a jaw filled of long and sharpened fangs, a couple of them curved and sharpened in the shape of a pliers, hanging down from the big mouth. Behind the head a big, fat hairy black body was swaying, standing on eight long bony legs, terminating in a long bone hook.

"That's a big ass spider." stated Jaco, nodding.

The little demon darted onto Noxfero's head, screaming like crazy, soon imitated by the mare in Noxfero's grasp. The spider opened his muddy jaw and roared, raising one of its legs, trying to hit the demon. Noxfero's eyes went wide, and he darted away into the woods, holding his minion and the pony.

"What is this place? I've seen spiders of that size only in Belzebù's swamp!" shouted Noxfero, jumping between the trees, while behind them they could hear the sound of the quick steps of the spider.

"Thats an Aracne! A friend of mine that lives in the forest said that their poison is mortal, but treated it's a wonderful syrup" stated Pinkie, a bit of concern in her voice.

"Well, hurray for the syrup then." groaned the devil, jumping over a dead log on the ground.

"Be careful here, Noxy!" exclaimed Jaco, looking around from his seat on Noxfero's head. "Those trees are full of branches, if you are not careful, you can get hit…"

"Duck!"

"What?"

The face of the little demon hit a low branch, knocking him off of Noxfero's head, and knocking him to the ground.

"He's fallen! Turn around, we have to help him!" shouted Pinkie, looking behind them.

"With that damned spider? Screw him, he can survive." grunted the demon, jumping over another dead tree.

"Well… I suppose you are right, we have a lot more meat than him. For that matter, I believe that I am the one that the spidy is hunting. I mean, I have more meat than you." Pinkie mumbled.

The devil looked at her, with an evil grin. "Yep.. I think that's how it is." He hissed, and dropped the pony on the ground, while continuing running. Pinkie looked at the devil running away with tears in her eyes, trying to call him back, but she hadn't the strenght to say anything. She rose up and began to run, the heavy steps of the spider behind her.

-oOo-

The devil stopped behind a big, contorted tree, sniffing the air, without panting (what for? He didn't need oxygen in any case). The putrid smell of the spider was far, far away, and he couldn't hear its steps. He relaxed his muscles, sitting on the ground.

"Well, that went wonderfully. Using bait is always the bast way to get rid of giant monsters" snickered the devil.

An image of the severed body of the pink mare flashed through his mind.

"Mh… I wonder… will she die from poison? Or she will be cut to pieces by those claws? Or maybe dried up." mumbled the demon. He tried to snicker, but strangely, he could not.

"Stupid Jaco…why did he have to leave me to wait for him so long?" He grunted, looking around. He was starting to feel alone. Also, he had a strange sensation in his stomach.

"Stupid place… it's apparently making me sick…literally." He mumbled again to himself.

"Stupid forest. Stupid place. Stupid talking ponies! Stupid Pinkie Pie!" He growled, when another image of the dead body of the mare flashed in his brain. Why wasn't he amused by those visions of the destruction of something pure and innocent?

The cake.

The shining kindness of a favor, a gift for a demon. Of course. It was surely that. If an Archdevil accepted a gift that wasn't the result of a deal with a mortal, it was obligated to give a favor in exchange. Course honor code! Because of course it was the code, it wasn't possible that he, the mighy Archdevil of Envy, was feeling remorse, was it not?

-oOo-

Pinkie Pie stopped in front of a cliff at the edge of the forest, panting heavily. She had managed to escape between the trees, scratching her body on the brambles and branches, using her Pinkie sense to avoid other dangers. But now, she was without an escape route.

"Oh…be a good boy Spidey Spidey…" murmured, walking backwards, looking at the enormous spider walking out of the forest, his fat abdomen gurgling loudly. Then a rock hit one of the monster's legs.

"Oy jerk, why don't you fight with someone your own size?" shouted a voice from the edge of the trees.

The spider turned, looking at the tiny figure of Jaco, who gulped "That was just friendly advice".

The spider darted forwards one of his legs, behading with a swift swing the little demon, sending his head into the air.

"AAAaaaaaaH! For goodness sake! It's spinning, everything it's spinning! I'm going to vomit, I feel like I'm going to vomit!" shouted the flying head, before falling to the ground with a loud grunt of pain.

"Oh good, it's stopped." He stated, then the head jumped up, looking around. "Ha! You can't do shit bro, you can't do shit! And stop ignoring me! Look at me, not at Pinkie! I'm way more sexy!" he shouted, while the spider started walking again towards the mare.

"Fuck… body, come here! We have to save that pony! Body, here…body where are you going? That's not me body, that's a rock. No body, that's a hive. No, stop body, there is a cliff, body stop bo…" the head groaned, then began rolling towards the spider. "Fear not Pinkie, I'll save you. Maybe. I don't know how, but I'll try!".

The pink mare was unsure if she should laugh or scream in fear, so she sat down, looking at the spider: she couldn't run away anyway. Jaco's head jumped on one leg of the spider.

"I'm holding it! Run Pinkie, run!" he said in a muffled voice, biting the bony leg. Then something flew out of the forest: a tree lashed out, hitting the side of the spider, smashing him on the ground.

"Before you say anything…" growled Noxfero, walking out of the forest. "I'm doing this only because if you will die, Jaco will pester me for the rest of eternity."

The mare cleared the tears of fear from her eyes. "Shure."

"Ok…now…" mumbled the devil, as the spider turned towards him, hissing frantically, then moved two legs, trying to cut the devil. Noxfero just dodged, grabbing one of the legs and ripping it off. The spider screeched, while a flood of green blood poured onto the ground.

"You are only a big fluffy stupid spider after all." snickered the demon, tossing away the leg. Offended by the insult, the spider decided to stab him with his hindlegs while he was occupied giggling from insulting an arachnid. The hooks passed him side by side, splurting a flood of black blood to the ground, mixing with his own green blood. The devil stopped laughing, gasping in pain. Not happy enough, the spider raised another two legs, mauling the arms, sides and legs of the demon, probably for facilitate the digestion. Jaco's head was jumping away, splashing disgustated through the blood, while Pinkie was watching in terror as motionless demon was slashed.

Satisfied, the spider raised his prey, gringing it towards its jaw. When he was just a few inches away, Noxfero roared, grabbing the sides of the spider's head to begin pulling. The insect hissed in panic, and bit the demon's shoulder, stabbing him with its poisonous fangs. The demon ignored the fact and continued to pull. With a loud snap, he tore away the creature's head with a disgusting sound, a shower of disgusting fluids flooding over him. The lifeless body began stumbling towards, waving hs legs convulsly. The demon threw away the head of the spider, without minding the fangs still stabbed into his flesh, and began ripping the legs still stabbed into him free. With a thump, he fell to the ground, the spider's hooks still into his chest, passing throught both his lungs. Pinkie shouted: the enormous body was falling towards the cliff…and towards her.

"Oh, come on, why didn't you move away?" wheezed the devil, running towards her. The lifeless body finally stopped moving, and fell over the edge of the cliff. One of his hooks became entangled in the wobbly tail of the mare frozen in fear. With a scream, Pinkie was pulled off the edge, and began falling through the air, following the arachnid's body.

"Are you serious?" shouted Noxfero, running over the edge, tripping over Jaco's head, and sending it over the cliff (with a Goofy-like scream) before he jumped, opening his wings. He forced the muscles of the broken wing into a shape, ignoring the pain as he darted after the mare. With a couple of wingbeats he reached her, grabbing her around the waist with an arm, while with his other hand he grasped the wall of the cliff. He slammed against the wall, wheezing, finding it extremly hard to ignore the pain. He could manage some broken ribs and a torn wing, but a lot of gashes, two broken lungs and a lot of poison inside his body were much more hard to ignore.

"You… stopped screaming….while falling…why?" he managed to ask, while thinking of how to descend.

"Oh, that was easy." said Pinkie, raising her eyes from the gashes in the arm that was holding her. "My left ear flapped and my hoof itched. That means that someone is going to save me."

"Sure it does" groaned the devil.

"See, you are not evil, are you?" asked the mare, as the devil began climbing down the wall. Noxfero turned his eyes towards the mare, and let her go.

Pinkie cried out in fear for a second, before the devil grabbed her again, grasping her tail.

"…Ok, you are the ultimate evil. Now can we go down please?" giggled the mare. Noxfero groaned, and began climbing down.

-oOo-

"Finally! Stupid body, there you are!" groaned Jaco, while his body put his head back on the shoulders of his conical body. Pinkie giggled, looking at him.

"You know, you should stop getting in these situations. You are the kind of guy that would lose his head for a giant spider." She snickered. Jaco looked at her, then giggled.

"Ok, that wasn't half bad. What do you say Nox? By the way, you have to give me back my sombrero! With that I could have done something, but if I-"

"Shut up for a second…please.." groaned the bigger devil, while leaning against the wall.

"Nox!" exclaimed the little demon, running towards him. The other one pushed him away, standing up, with trails of black blood pouring down from his wounds.

"Come on now, let's get you back to your freaky town… it will be all useless if you get eaten by something else…" panted the devil, looking at Pinkie, who was looking back at him, scared.

"Noxy! You can't push yourself like this, in a situation like this!" yelped Jaco, trying to stop him.

"Why push? What's happening? Isn't he like, indestructible? I mean, he was running with four broken ribs, I assumed he is something like a super golem." Cried Pinkie, before sprinting right in front of the demon's face. "Don't go towards the light Nox, don't go!"

Jaco restrained his laughter. "He is indestructible in the sense he is immortal."

"Wohoooooooooooooooo, like the princesses!"

"I don't know that. He can't die, but he can feel the pain…he is just really good at hiding it. And with all those injuries…"

"Stop that!" growled the devil, limping towards the woods. "I'm fine. I just need to eat something."

"Ooook, if you say so…" sighed Pinkie, looking with concern at the devil's wounds. "But if by chance you are going to need someone to lean on, I'll be right there. Not that you need any help."

"Exactly… I don't need…. Any help…" blurted the demon, while his vision went black for the third time in one day.

-oOo-

He opened his eyes, panting and sweating. He was moving, but it wasn't his legs that were dragging him along. Under his face there was a floor of pink fur, with a strong smell of cotton candy. He closed his eyes again, groaning something. He had fallen so low.


	5. Sloth

The devil opened his eyes slowly, groaning. He was laying on something soft, covered by something else light and warm. He focused his sight, looking around: he was in a little room, on a little bed (his legs were hanging out), and in no pain at all. The devil looked at himself: he could see his pale skin through the slashes in his clothes: all the wounds were gone.

"Heya Noxy, you are awake!" chirped Jaco's voice. Noxfero turned and saw the little demon standing up from a chair where he had probably sleeping.

"How long I was out?" asked the archdevil, looking at the ceiling.

"Mh…three hours, more or less. It's almost down." answered his minion, yawning.

"And where are we?"

"In the house of the yellow pegasus. The one you made cry." Answered Jaco, taking a carafe of water, pouring a little of it into a glass and offering it to the bigger demon.

"She lives very near the forest, so Pinkie brought you here."

"Where is she now?" groaned the demon, rubbing his neck on the pillow.

"Getting her friends. They are coming here, I assume. I think they are going to try help us, so please, don't be a jerk."

"Mh…why are my injuries gone?" asked the devil, ignoring the previous statement.

"Pinkie and that Fluttershy girl were terrified by your condition. They tried to undress you and do something, but of course, the raincoat attacked them. So when they asked me what they could do, I asked them to eat a lot, of whatever they had. And as expected, you absorbed a tiny bit of gluttony, and with that and what you had eaten, you regenerated some of your injuries. The wing is still broken, like your ribs. You got a severed arm and the cracked skull, but at least, your lungs and the wounds in the legs are gone"

"Better than nothing." muttered the devil.

-oOo-

"We put him in my room… I think he's awake now, I heard some voices…" murmured the yellow pegasus to her friends, leading them inside the house.

Twilight knocked gently at the little wooden door, opening it slowly.

"Uhm… Noxfero… can we come in?" she asked lowly, looking inside, before beeing greeted by the image of the devil trying to drown his servant in the carafe. Noxfero raised his eyes, then threw the carafe with the head of Jaco inside it out of the window, without stopping to look at the ponies.

"I'm ok, I'm ok!" arrived the cry of Jaco from outside. "I just have glass shards all over my face, give me a sec!"

"Eeeer… ok…" mumbled the purple mare, startled by the event. She entered into the room, followed by the mare that Noxfero had already encountered in the barn, plus a cyan mare with a rainbow colored mane, that the devil recognized as the one who had hit him in the back. He looked silently at them, waving his ears.

The purple one rubbed her hoof on the ground before speaking. "Considering what Pinkie and Fluttershy said, I was expecting to find you barely conscious."

"I regenerated the worst wounds." grunted the devil: he wasn't able to understand the feelings of the mares. He could see that they were still angry over the insults, but they were also… gratefull, for some reason.

"Thank you for saving Pinkie Pie." said the purple mare, looking him in the eye. Mistery solved then.

"Indeed." said the white coated mare, stepping forward. "Even if you have been acting like an unpleasant ruffian, I have to admit that saving Pinkie Pie was an act of pure courage."

"A-against an Aracne, for that matter… those are…really, really dangerous creatures… even hydras are afraid of them." muttered the yellow pegasus. "Yes…that was…brave…"

"Ah think we may have misjudged you, partner." added the orange mare, bowing her head slightly. "Maybe you ain't a total bad apple."

The rainbow-maned pegasus flew towards the devil face, with a doubtful look on her face. "You know, when they told me that while I was flying over the forest for searching other creatures like you, you were acting like a jerk, and you also made Fluttershy cry, I had every intentions to beat the hay out of you." The demon huffed.

"But then, ten minutes ago, they woke me up and told me you saved Pinkie's life. So tell me, what should I do to you?" She asked, with a grin on her face.

"Now now Rainbow, let him rest." cooed Fluttershy. Evidently she became a little more expressive around wounded creatures, even if the creature in question was a demon.

"Actually, I'm fine…" groaned the demon, standing up from the bed, stretching his arms. The mares backed off, and after a second, the demon felt it too: the dried fluids of the spider and his own blood were staining his raincoat and his clothes, producing a disgusting smell even for him. "Is there maybe a river nearby? I could do with a bath" mumbled the devil, trying not to smell the rest of the spider on him.

"Y-yes… -cough-… there is a stream -cough cough- out here…" gasped the pegasus, trying to plug her nose.

"I see it." exclaimed the devil, jumping out of the window.

The mares looked at each other, before running out of the room, while from outside came Jaco's voice: "Heya Noxy! You could jump somewhere except my face…wait, where are you taking me? Noxy? Noxy…?"

-oOo-

When the mares got out from Fluttershy's cottage, they found the demon in the little river as he cleaned up his raincoat using Jaco's head as a sponge, showing them his pale back and his wings, relaxed in the water.

"By the way, where is Pinkie?" asked Noxfero, cleaning a stain of dried blood.

"She wanted to come back here after having advised us all, but we managed to send her to bed." Answered Twilight, sitting on the grass and looking at the demon's back.

"Can we talk a little now, without you being a jerk?" The mare asked smirking, while the others sat down near her.

"I'll try." grunted the devil, without turning.

"Well then, you can begin with facing us, it is rude to speak to somepony without looking at them." stated the white mare named Rarity, waving a hoof in the air with a melodramatic effort.

"At you service, madam." snickered the devil, and he turned towards the mares. AJ and Dash's eyes widened, while Rarity and Twilight gasped in surprise. Fluttershy fainted directly on the grass. "What? There is something on my face?" he asked, then noticed where the mares were looking: the brand on his chest.

"It's not a big deal" he groaned.

"Who did that thing to you?" exclaimed Twilight, shocked.

"It's the Hell's brand. Every Archdevil has one." Answered the devil.

"Hell's brand? But what's Hell? Who are the other archdevils?" she asked frantically, looking almost charmed by the burned scar on the devil's chest.

"I'll tell you, if you all stop looking at me like that." groaned Noxfero, beginning to feel uncomfortable by all these dimostrations of compassion.

"Yes…sorry… ok we are calm. Girls, girls we are calm aren't we?" said the purple mare, glaring at her friends, then she turned again towards the devil. Applejack managed to regain her composure, while Rarity and Rainbow just continued staring at the scorched mark.

"Ok…sorry about that. Now please, tell me who and what you are, in the most detailed possible way." She asked gently.

Noxfero grinned, while continuing rubbing Jaco's face on his raincoat. "Noxfero, Archdevil of Envy. Those are my name and title. I come from Hell, in what's apparently another plane of existence."

Twilight summoned a paper and a quill in a flash of purple light and began writing something. "Ok, what kind of diferent plane of existence?"

"Long story short, a penta-formed plain: mortal world, Heaven, Purgatory, Hell and Limbo."

"LIMBO!" shouted Jaco, before being pressed again on the dress.

"Basically, when a mortal dies, his or her soul is sent to one of these place, depending on how they acted in life. Devils are basically souls transformed by the strenght of their sins."

"So…you are telling me that you are…dead?" asked in disbelief the mare, raising her eyes. The devil just nodded.

"That's why we are immortal." Jaco managed to say, between brushes against the coat. "We are already dead, we can't die again. We can feel pain anyway tought."

"Yes, that's true, since hell is a place of infinite torture and damnation, the souls have still the capacity to feeling pain."

With a war cry, three figures darted out from their hiding spot in a bush and charged the demon at the cry of "Cutie Mark crusader demon-slayers!" the three little fillies jumped over Noxfero, sending him into the water, beating him with their tiny hooves.

"Take this, you fiend!" cried an orange one with a short violet mane.

"We'll teach you to hurt one of us!" cried a yellow filly with a tomato-red mane.

"Yeah…what she said!" exclaimed the same white filly that Noxfero had attacked in the room the previous day.

"Oh my…girls!" shouted Twilight, while Jaco emerged from the stream, laughing like an idiot.

-oOo-

"You have to forgive them. They are really close, and they were worried yesterday when they heard that Sweetie Belle had been attacked, then they heard of what kind of jerk you were… they actually didn't heard that you saved Pinkie getting your body mauled." Twilight said softly, putting a pair of plasters on the devil's head: they were both inside Fluttershy's cottage again. The devil groaned, while outside she could hear Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash scolding the three little fillies.

"It's alright I suppose… I'm just not used to children… there are no children in hell…" he groaned, rubbing the nape of his neck.

The door opened, and the three little fillies entered into the house, followed by the three mares. "Girls…" began Rarity "Say you are sorry to Noxfero."

"We are sorry." The three fillies said togheter, without a bit of conviction. The devil just ignored them. Then turned towards them so suddenly that the three backed away, scared.

Envy. Those three little fillies were leaking envy. The sour taste of the sin rolled over his tongue, leading him to lick his lips. "That's ok dearies… I can see you are so upset for what you have done." He said in his most sweet, mellifluous voice. "I can see that you are also upset for something else… why don't you talk a little with uncle Noxfero?"

"That's the spirit." Smiled Twilight. The three fillies looked at each other, uneasily but then moved towards the sofa, when the other mares pushed them. "Just try not to wake up Fluttershy. We'll go and get something to eat in town. Be nice ok?"

"They shure will be." grinned the devil. Before Twilight closed the door, she tought she saw a devious grin on Noxfero's mouth.


	6. Greed

"So let me get this straight… you are upset because some foals have a tatoo on their butt, and you three don't?" asked Noxfero, rubbing his forehead.

"Well…yeah!" nodded Applebloom, staring sadly at the ground.

"That is the most idiotic thing I have ever heard, considering all that stuff that my minion says." grunted the devil, standing up. At the end, he had managed to absorb some envy from those fillies. He oculd feel a little of his powers coming back, as he could feel his wingbones regenerating.

The little pegasus filly looked at him, irritated. "That's not idiotic! A cutie mark is a serious matter."

"Really? How so?" asked the devil, raising an eyebrow.

"Well… with it, you're supposed to understand what your special talents is…what you're supposed to be good at." the unicorn filly answered timidly the unicorn filly, without looking at him.

"And isn't that extremely limitated?" asked Noxfero. Those ponies were so damned silly. "I mean, without a cutie mark aren't you able to find a job or anything?"

"It's a question of principle." stated the pegasus filly.

"Yeah! And Ah'm sure that mine is gonna be an apple, like everypony in the family!" happily exclaimed Applebloom, jumping on the floor.

"Yes, and mine will shurely be something awesome! Like Rainbow Dash's!" added Scotaloo, grinning.

"I hope mine will be something related to fashion, or maybe magic. You know… you know!" smiled the little unicorn, joining her friends.

"And that's why we'll never stop our journey as the CUTIE MARK CRUSDER! YAY!" they shouted, their voices echoing throughout all the cottage.

The devil moved his ears. Seriously? Those ponies were really so stupid? They knew what their talents were, they had even told him, while telling him all about their efforts to find their marks. The white one was good at singing, the yellow one was good at crafting things and the orange one was an acrobat or something. Were they really so blind?

He could just tell them… or maybe…

"And your unicorn friends aren't able to use their pony magic to make them appear..?" asked the devil nonchalantly, slowly waving his tail.

"Well… Ah asked Twilight. She is the best with all that magic stuff, ya know? But she said that no magic could help that. We have to search them on our own." muttered Applebloom.

"Maybe magic of this place can't…" grinned the devil. The three fillies raised their eyes to him.

"What do you mean..?" asked Scootaloo skeptically, looking at the devil.

"Well my dearies…" said Noxfero in a soothing voice, as he sat again on the sofa. He hoped he was strong enough to do that, or he was going all theatrical for nothing. He put his hand forward, and in a flash of purple flames, a sheet of yellowed paper appeared in his hand.

"What's that?" asked Sweetie Belle, jumping back a little when the flames appeared in the air.

"That's a deal with me, my dear cutie mark crusaders." he answered "This little paper has the power to allow me to grant a wish, of course as long as I get something in return"

"Are you saying…"

"That in exchange for something, I'll give you your cutie marks" Noxfero grinned.

"Something like what? We are flat broke" groaned Scootaloo, huffing.

"Wha..? Not money…just something…" The devil scratched his chin, pretending to think.

"What about…mh…" He looked at the three fillies, grinning deviously. "What about your ability with your hooves, Applebloom? And Scootaloo, what about your sense of equilibrium? And last but not least, Sweetie Belle, why don't you give me that wonderful voice of yours?"

"I'll become mute?" asked the scared white filly, searching for her friends support.

"Wha…? Oh no no no, your voice will just change a little." cooed the devil. "So, what do you say…? Do you want to make a deal with me….?"

-oOo-

"I can't wait to see the look on Diamond Tiara's face." Scootaloo grinned, while walking with wobbly legs on the street throught Ponyville, a little piece of cloth on her flank.

"Yeah, and also our family! They will be so proud that we finally have our cutie marks!" cheered Applebloom, adjusting her piece of cloth on her own flank.

"That's for sure!" exclaimed Sweetie Belle in a screeching, dissonant voice.

"I'm sure of that." grinned Noxfero, walking behind them. Since Fluttershy and Jaco had disappeared from the cottage, they had decided to go and find the others, and Noxfero had joined them, mostly because he was extremely happy with the new wave of powers that the deal had brought back to him.

They walked slowly in the streets of the little town: no one was in sight. The devil could smell them, but they were probably all hidden somewhere. He shrugged. Who cared anyway.

"They'll probably are at Sugarcube Corner! Let's go there first" cheered the three fillies, running down the street. The devil moaned and followed them, until they arrived in front of the place where the devil, the previous day, had eaten all that sugary mass off goodies.

"Maybe it's not a good idea if I go inside…" muttered the devil, but Scootaloo and Apple Bloom grabbed the edge of his raincoat and pulled him, while Sweetie Belle opened the door. Inside it was completely dark, and the smell of sweets was overpowered by the smell of ponies, and a slightly intense smell of sins.

Noxfero looked around, while his eyes adjusted to the darkness "What the….?"

"SURPRISE!"

The loud shout echoed through the shop as the lights turned suddenly on, showing a whole bunch of ponies and Jaco jumping out with smiling faces. All of that just startled Noxfero ito jumping back, yelping.

"So were you surprised? Were you? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh?" asked Pinkie Pie, jumping out of the crowd and running towards the demon. "I told you I had to throw a welcome party for you, but since I told you, I have to be extra sure that you didn't suspect anything! So all morning I was running around preparing the party and telling everypony to come to see that you are not scary and dangerous, but just grumpy!" Pinkie stopped, breathing loudly, giving time to Noxfero to look around: indeed, ponies were looking at him with curiosity, not fear or hate. The devil returned his sight to Pinkie.

"This wasn't the kind of publicity I wanted. What part of "extremely evil" didn't you get?" he asked, walking slowly towards a table stuffed with food and punch, while around them the ponies began to chatter and basically enjoy themselves. He noticed the Cutie Mark Crusaders walk towards a little group of foals.

"The part where the great evil creature saved me!" smiled Pinkie. Noxfero groaned, grasping a cupcacke.

"I was obligated by the Archdevil's honor code. You give me a favor, I was obligated to save you." muttered the devil, biting the sweet.

"But Noxy!" exclaimed Jaco, popping out from Pinkie's mane. "Don't you remember what Satan told you about the honor code beeing a bunch of stupid junk? You were not obligated to save Pinkie!" As an answer, Noxfero hit the little demon wih his tail, sending him into the bowl of the punch.

"That was mean!" stated the pink mare, watching as Jaco began drinking the punch, much to the disgust of some other ponies. The devil didn't respond, sniffing the air: after all, there were tracks of sins in the air. Faint tracks, but beggers can't be choosers, can't they? Pride, Gluttony, an inch of Sloth… the devil licked his lips, grabbing another sweet from the table, before casually approaching a couple of mares, one a unicorn with an aquamarine coat ad an aquamarine-white mane as well as a cream coated one with a long curled pink-blue mane, who were both emitting a faint aroma of Lust.

"There is no way!" arrived a scream from the other side of the bakery. Noxfero raised his eyes: the three little fillies were proudly showing the three marks on their flanks to two other fillies, a pink and a gray one, while other foals were looking at them with impressed eyes. Noxfero grinned, approaching the commotion.

"Yeah. See Diamond Tiara? Aren't they cute?" asked Scootaloo, waving her flank in front of the other filly's face.

"They sure are… particular." stated Rarity, looking at them.

"Ya said it." mumbled Applejack.

On the flank of Apple Bloom was now impressed a black dried apple, with a green skull on it. On Scootaloo's flank there was impressed a black tornado contorted by lightning, while on the unicorn filly there was impressed a shattered purple gem. The pink filly, that Noxfero noted was wearing a tiara, was fuming.

"Sweetie, dear, tell us, how did you get your special…uh…talents?" asked Rarity, approaching her little sister.

"He helped us!" The little filly chirped in her new horrible voice, pointing her hoof at Noxfero. Evrypony turned towards him, and he just shrugged.

"Yeah, we just signed a paper with our hoofprints and now we have these greats cutie marks!" nodded the little pegasus, losing her balance and folling on her side.

"You were able to do what?" demanded Twilight, walking towards the devil. He snickered, gulping another cupkacke.

"We just made a deal. They gave me something, I gave them their cutie marks." He said calmly, looking at the fillies.

"And pray tell what were they given in return?" asked Rarity, looking at the gem on her little sister's flank.

"Well, that's easy: since now Sweetie Belle's voice is a horrible caw, her special talent is a voice so bed that it can shatter diamonds." The filly's ears lowered suddenly. "As for Apple Bloom, she is good at destroying and decaying whatever she put in her hooves".

"That ain't true!" growled the filly, grabbing a glass of punch. It'ss slipped from her hoof and fell down. The devil grinned.

"And last but not least, without her sense of balance, dear Scootaloo is just a natural disaster."

"Wait, what?" exclaimed Scootaloo, trying to stand up. She tripped over her own hooves and fell again to the floor.

"Yep, this is it. Because in a deal with a devil, the only winner is the devil." nodded Noxfero, gulping another sweet.

"You are such an ass." stated Jaco, rolling on the floor without apparent reason. "And I was just saying that you were so good to save Pinkie."

"For the last time, I was obligated!" growled Noxfero, grabbing the minion with his tail and raising him in front of his face.

"Well, but if I recall correctly, the honor code also said that you can't make deals with underaged kids, since they're too pure to be corrupted." Stated Jaco, looking with an annoyed expression at the bigger demon.

Noxfero just froze, then turned around, walking towards the exit. "Sooooo… are you saying that you saved Pinkie because you are not such an ass as you proclaim?" mocked the little demon, smirking. Noxfero just tightened his tail around the other one's neck.

"The contract is broken. Sorry kids, my bed, but I have to follow the code, after all." Growled Noxfero, waving his hand. The cutie marks on the filly's flanks shone a second, then trickled away, like ink on a plastic wall.

"All resolved, yay! Horray to me!" shouted the little demon, before Noxfero slammed the shop's door behind them. "Hey Noxy that was rude!" noted the little demon, choking slightly.

"Just shut up. That had to be my adieu signature."

"Adieu? Are we leaving?"

"Indeed." nodded the archdevil. "Sice I managed to regain some basic power, I can just open a portal back to hell." Then he raised his hands, and moved them like he was opening an invisible curtain. Nothing happened. Noxfero blinked, then moved his hands again. A few black sparks appeared just for a second, but nothing more.

"Mh…as I was thinking..." muttered Jaco, looking at the bigger demon.

"What do you mean?" Noxfero asked, raising Jaco in front of his face.

"Well… I don't think that this is a parallel dimension to our mortal world. There aren't things in common. I think it's just another reality…and, if I'm not mistaken, you can open passages only in diensions near to our own…right?" The bigger demon stared at him, speechless. Jaco could sense his anger rise in realization.

"I...I think we could be stuck here forever."

-oOo-

"We have to tell the princess of what this creature is capable of." said Rarity, patting her little sister on the head. "He might have powers she doesn't have, other than that deal thing."

"I know Rarity, it was my intention anyway and-" The mare's voice was interrupted by a terrifing roar coming from outside, followed by an explosion and a scream of pain. The six mares looked at each other, then burst out while around them the other ponies were lookig at each other, scared. Outside there was an enormous charred track on the ground, where Jaco was running in circles, his head engulfed in flames. A little further there was Noxfero, in the middle of slamming his head against the wall of a house.

"You must be KIDDING me! We can't be stuck here! I can't be stucked here!" he screamed, while hitting the bricks. "Do you have any idea of what will happen to our companions if we don't come back? What Mephistopheles will do to them?"

"AAAaaaAAAaaaAAAaahhh!….. well, calm down Nox." stated the litle demon, stopping his running, suddenly oblivious of his burning head. "There is Junior. And also, Belzebù and Daelus will not permit to Mephistopheles to touch your realm."

"But if we can't go back…Rgh!" groaned the devil, hitting the wall harder. A black stain of blood was beginning to form where the devil was hitting.

"I think he may be upset." whispered the little devil to the six mares, stunned by the outburst. Noxfero just groaned and fell on the ground, staring at the sky.

"That's why I hate mondays."

"But today Is thursday."

"Shut up Jaco."


	7. Envy

Celestia's sun raised slowly, dispersing the shadows and brightening with his warm glow the land. A certain little devil was rolling on the street without a goal, just enjoying the fresh morning air. In Hell it was a rare thing.

"Hem… a-are you ok…?" asked a soft voice. Jaco rolled again to face the one who was speaking to him: the butter-coated pegasus with the pink mane was in front of him on the street.

"Heya, hello missy!" shouted the little demon, jumping straight up and greeting the mare with an enormous smile. The pegasus backed away a little, startled.

"Say, how are you?" he asked, still with that stupid grin on his face.

"Oh… well I'm fine…listen why…"

"That's great! Say, why don't we go on an adventure!" exclaimed the little devil, jumping on the spot. For the second time Fluttershy was taken aback.

"W-well…actually I was here for…"

"Yes! Adventure!" he exclaimed, grabbing one of the mare's forelegs and dragging her with him.

-oOo-

"…And that's why we are late…" murmured Fluttershy looking the ground instead of in Twilight's direction. She was wearing a pirate hat and a fake hook, while on her back Jaco was laughing like an idiot, dressed as a crab. With a sombrero.

"Best adventure ever!" cried, waving his hands in the sky.

"Well…that's quite was an enteresting story…" mumbled Twilight, looking at the pair.

"I'm sorry…" murmured the pegasus.

"Oh, no no Shy, don't worry. We are late anyway. Rainbow and Pinkie Pie didn't find Noxfero, anyway." said the unicorn, patting her friend on the back.

"He is probably fuming in a tree somewhere. After all, it's only been two days since he discovered he has to stay here, like, forever. That's like forever for us." Stated Jaco, rolling off from Fluttershy's back. "Why are you searching for him anyway?" he asked, turning his eyes to the unicorn.

"Well… Since you are kinda alien creatures in this place, coming from a totally different world, so I was thinking that maybe my mentor, Princess Celestia, could help you two in returning to your homeworld." responded Twilight, a little bit to fast to be credible.

"Naaaaaah… I don't think so." Smiled Jaco, standing up. "If a devil can't open a portal to hell, no one can. I just think you don't trust us, so you just want for someone more powerfull than you to give a judgment." Twilight's face flushed red.

"It was that obvious?"

"Indeed." Stated Jaco, smiling. "Not a problem from me, anyway. Instead, I'm flattered that someone could actually think I'm a threat."

"It's not that! I don't think you two are dangerous!" exclaimed Twilight. "I…just want to be sure, ok?"

"No problem here." Smiled Jaco, falling on the ground again and beginning to roll around, singing something about a place called Brazil. Time passed silently, untill the group was joined by Applejack and Rarity. Time passed slowly, as the little group began chatting.

"Twilight, when we have to be at Canterlot for the audience with the Princess?" Rarity asked suddenly, looking at the sun. The other unicorn looked at the sun too, before huffing.

"Well.. we didn't have a real time… I hoped to be there with the train in the morning, but since we are going to lost it…" grumbled the mare. "But since they are not here, I assume we are going to arrive at Canterlot much more later…"

The group fell silent again, until their attention was drawn on a cyan colored pegasus that was grunting in the street alongside with Pinkie, both of them dragging the motionless body of the demon, who was laying on the ground with an angry expression on his face.

"Come on Noxy, you'll see that it'll be fun!" chirped Pinkie, jumping on the spot.

"I'll doubt it." Growled the devil, without putting any effort in helping the two mares carrying his body.

"Please Noxfero, maybe we could really help you." Pleaded Twilight, walking towards them and pulling the devil with her magic grasp.

"Yes, maybe! And also, we have to let them decide if we are dangerous or not!" smiled Jaco, rolling in front of Noxfero.

"Thanks Jaco..." grumbled Twilight, walking towards the train station.

Noxfero just emitted a low growl while being carried.

-oOo-

The train was running calmly along the railroad, the wagon slightly jumping on the track. In the end, they had managed to take the train that Twilight had hoped. Their wagon was mostly empty, due to the presence of the (literally) fuming devil, sitting in one corner, mumbling and growling, while Jaco was smoking a bubble pipe, wearing a fez and a pair of fake mustaches. Twilight had tried to begin a conversation with both of them, but after a few minutes, she had given up. Fluttershy had more fortune with Jaco, as they were talking about animals in common between Jaco's mortal wold and Equestria, and his need to find a pet toucan.

"Hey Twilight… do you think it's a good idea bringing those two in front of the Princess?" whispered Rainbow Dash in the unicorn's ear, looking at the devil growling towards two unfortunate middle aged ponies that had committed the crime of looking at him.

The unicorn sighed "I hope so. I sent to the princess a letter about them, including both the facts that they saved Pinkie, but also created fake cutie marks with an unknown power. She was interested in such strange creatures, and asked to see them, even if I told her of the facts that one is a jerk and the other one is…well…"

"Like a sir, my dear." Stated Jaco, putting on a monocle. Fluttershy giggled, while Twilight groaned.

"Ah think the Princess could find that little chimp funny." Said Applejack, moving towards the other two mares, adjusting her hat. "For what Ah reckon, she's got a good sense of humor."

"Applejack, we are talking about a princess. It will be extremely disrespectful trying to be silly in her presence." Stated Rarity, adjusting her mane. The other pony stuck out her tongue.

"Ah don't see the problem in being a little light-hearted." Growled the orange mare.

"I don't call that light-hearted." Muttered Noxfero from his corner. "I call it total idiocy."

-oOo-

The guards were patrolling the entrance of the castle of the royal sisters, looking at the high ranked unicorns walking in the streets of Canterlot with watchful eyes. The group of guards was led by a big, white unicorn with a deep-blue mane. He was leading the patrol alongside the entrance gate, sometimes glancing at a tower of the castle, sighing with a dull smile on his face, getting some grins from his fellows guards. Suddenly one of them widened his eyes, and tapped his hoof on the other's shoulder: "Excuse me captain Armor, isn't that your sister?"

The white unicorn in the purple armor turned his head, and his eyes narrowed in surprise: indeed, on the street there was his little sister Twilight with all her friends. And they were all trying to pull and push a strange creature towards the castle. He walked down the golden stairs, greeting them with a smile. "Hi Twilight, hi girls. What's up?"

Twilight turned, trying to smile to her big brother. "Hello BBBFF. We are supposed to see the Princess, you know, talking about stuff: how are my studies going, how is life in Ponyville, if there is anything strange about the forest, show her a creature from a different dimension… you know, the usual things." She let out a nervous laugh, while her friends continued pulling the creature. Shining Armor noted the marks of his claws on the street, where he had tried to grasp the ground.

"I… see…" stated the stallion, rising an eyebrow.

"So yeah, those kind of things." Repeated Twilight, smiling awkwardly. While behind her the other five mares were still trying to push Noxfero over the first step while Jaco, in a cheerleader outfit, was jumping around encouraging them.

Obviously, he was the one having the most fun.

"Well… I think we can help you girls. The gate will be safe for five minutes without us." stated the colt, smiling. "You'll see… we will bring that creature to the throne room in no time."

Noxfero raised his ears: was that a challenge?

-oOo-

Celestia was was calmly drinking her tea, comfortably seated in her throne as she looked out of the window, enjoying the calm of one of her few free afternoons. Suddenly, her ears perked at a muffled grunt outside of the room, and then the door opened, revealing her student and her friends smiling and walking towards her, while behind she noted a group of guards trying to push something into the room. She stood up and walked towards them, smiling warmly. "Twilight Sparkle, welcome. And welcome to you all, elements of harmony." She said looking at them.

"Here we are princess." Said Twilight, bowing her head. "We had some problems on the way, but well, we are here, at the end."

"That's good to hear." smiled the princess, while behind Twilight the guards finally pushed a strange looking creature in the room, before closing the door. "Please, tell me about him. Then we will have a little chat, ok?" asked Celestia, smiling at the creature, who just growled.

Noxfero was going to be sick. Even if he had managed to regain some of his powers back, the virtuous soul of the creature in front of him was slowly poisoning him. "Only angels are like that." he mumbled to himself. He wasn't in the mood for another bunch of questons.

"Psssssst! Jaco, come here!" he hissed, looking at his minion. The little devil jumped to his side, waiting for orders. "I need a distraction. Go wild."

Jaco smiled wildly, saluted, then darted towards the princess, jumping on her muzzle. "Oh my GOSH! This thing has both a horn and wings! It's not a pegasus or a unicorn! I will call this new race Pegacorn! Or Unicegasus!" Celestia was looking at the little demon with a slightly confused expression, while Twilight went pale. "I will call you Jebediah Sprinkle and you will be my best pal, helping me to reconquest my rightful place as the pineapple king!" he shouted, before pulling out from nowhere a helmet made of a carved pineapple and shoving it on Celestia's head.

Twilight jumped over Celestia and Jaco, trying to stop him. With an evil grin, Noxfero opened the door slightly and slid outside. He just needed to find the kitchen.

-oOo-

He couldn't find the kitchen! The place was freaking HUGE! He groaned, and continued his stealthy walk inside the castle, avoiding the guard's patrols and the servants. Unlike their princess, all those mortal pony were emitting sins, so more or less he was enjoying the trip. But it was booooring.

"Come on ponies! The princess has been assaulted by an unknown creature!" shouted a group of guards, running towards the corridor where the devil was moving. Noxfero raised his ears and looked around, searching for a place were hide. It was a pretty much empty corridor: no hiding spots. And he wasn't powerful enough to transform into a shadow. So he just ran into the first room he saw.

He closed the door behind him and placed his body over it, listening at the hoofsteps outside. He grinned and raised his sight: in front of him, in a big room that was probably a living room, a pony similar to the princess was looking at him, startled. She was a lot smaller though, with a pink coat and a long curled purple-cream mane , and she had a turquoise-heart thingy placed on her butt. Noxfero stared at her, opening his mouth without knowing what to say.

"Do you want a cup of tea?" asked the mare, smiling lightly and raising with her magic an empty cup from the little table in front of her.

"I don't need it." growled the demon. His belly growled louder. "Just a cup."

"With pleasure." Smiled back the pink mare, pouring from a teapot some dark liquid. The devil grunted and sat on the other side of the table. The mare was emitting the smell of positive emotions and virtues, but with some of his power back, he could resist that much. The mare passed the cup to him and he responded with a growl that she took as a thank you, before raising her own cup and beginning to sip her tea. Noxfero sniffed his liquid for a couple of seconds, before gulping it.

"May I ask you a question?" asked the mare, lowering her cup.

"Of course you can. Me responding to it is another matter, though." Snickered the demon.

"Fair enough. Are you the Noxfero that Twilight is writing about these days?"

The devil raised an eyebrow. "Yup. Do you know Twilight?" he asked, drinking another sip of tea.

"Oh yes, I was her foalsitter when she was younger. And she is also the sister of my husband." She smiled, receiving a bored look in return. "So…aren't you supposed to be with Celestia…?" asked the mare, looking at him.

From outside the window came a ruckus, attracting the attention of the two. The mare stood up and moved towards the windows, looking into the gardens, followed by Noxfero. They saw a dark blue alicorn with a dark mane full of little stars wearing a poncho and a sombrero galloping across the green, with Jaco on her back, who was also wearing a poncho, a sombrero and a pair of fake mustaches, screaming "Run Pacho, run! Davey Crockett is right behind us!".

Behind them was running Princess Celestia, who was wearing a raccoon skin cape, followed by Twilight and numerous guards and ponies with a regal air. Probably state officials.

"Please Princess stop!" was shouting one of them.

"Forget it! We are having fun and none of you can stop us!" shouted princess Celestia, laughing like crazy.

Noxfero turned towards the pink alicorn and smirked. "My minion is taking care of her." snickered, then sat again at the table.

"I can see that…" stated the mare, sitting again at the table and raising again her cup. "And tell me, is it true that you can't return back?" she asked, settling her purple eyes on him. The devil cringed for a second.

"Sadly yes. If it wasn't , I would be long gone."

"Really? Then why did you come here if you didn't like this place?" asked the mare, pouring another cup of tea.

"I didn't want to come here in the first place! It was an accident with a stupid portal machine, and that idiot of my minion was going to be sucked in, and I tried to grab him! And now I'm stuck in this damned place full of ponies, love, tolerance, friendship and a lot of other stupid good feelings!" he snarled, slamming the cup on the table.

The mare stared at him calmly, lowering the cup. "I assume that good feelings and all that stuff is not the most wonderful stuff where you come from."

"Indeed it's not." Grunted the devil.

"Then why did you follow your minion, i wonder." Asked the mare, smirking.

Noxfero opened his mouth, than closed it.

"You know, I think that from what you are saying, and what Twilight wrote in her letter, that you just want to pursue an evil image, but you are just like us." Noxfero growled, baring his fangs. "That's of course my assumption, and it does not have a real value." Added the mare. Noxfero stpped growling, lowering his gaze on the cup.

"Why did you offer me a cup of tea?" he asked then, flapping hi ears.

"Well, you seemed bored." The mare answered simply. "Now, what are you going to do, if you are stuck here?"

"Don't know…regain my power, I suppose…"

"And after that? What are you gonig to do?"

""…Don't know… I'm not good at making decisions." mumbled the demon.

"If I can give you some suggestions, I'd stay in that lovely towns, Ponyville. There ponies aren't so cheesy for the image or other things, like in bigger town."

Noxfero gagged. "Please, that's a creepy place. All this world is creepy. I rather prefer to stay alone."

The mare shrugged. "Suit yourself. But I know my little ponies. Some of them will like to get nearer to you. You are an… intresting character." She smiled, lowering her cup and looking out tihe window at the deepening shadows. "I think they are going to return to Ponyville. I think it's your time to, too." The devil stood up, yawning.

"I assume yes… I'll be going then."

"Ok, au revoire then. My name is Cadence, by the way."

The devil grinned. "Good to know. You already know my name, so I can't really introduce myself."

He moved towards the door, sniffing the air. "By the way, she is a female."

Cadence looked at him, raising an eyebrow. "Wha… who? What?"

Noxfero chuckled "I'm sure you will know soon enough." Then he left the room, with a wriggle of the raincoat.

-oOo-

"Well…at the end the princesses had fun…" murmured timidly Fluttershy, walking down the stairs with Jaco on her back. Twilight said nothing. Sure was strange seeing her own mentor and ruler of Equestria run and laugh like a little filly, but seemed that even Jaco had some strange power of his own. Only when they left the castle they noted that Noxfero wasn't with them.

"He escaped?" asked in disbelief Rainbow Dash. "Come on, that's totally uncool!"

"Well, this city is full of pride, he's probably going to feast on it for days. And he'll probably visit every city of Equestria" stated Jaco, jumping off Fluttershy and walking to the center of the group. Then Pinkie Pie's tail twitched.

With grace, the devil flew down at maximum speed, landing exactly on his minion, smashing him into the street. He closed his wings and looked under his shoes. "Hi Jac. Good work at the palace." The smashed minion moved an arm weakly.

"I assumed that you had really escaped." Stated Twilight with a frown.

"My dear, that was my first plan. But I have changed my mind. Never happened to you?" mocked the devil, before beginning to walk towards the station. The mares looked at each other, then followed the humming figure of the demon.

-oOo-

Noxfero yawned, looking at the ceiling of the wagon. He hadn't realized that it was so late, but apparently he had spent a lot of time wandering in the castle, drinking some tea and feeding on some of the pride of the city. Now, he was the only one awake in the wagon: Twilight was sleepinh with her head over the window, drooling a little, while Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow were all sleeping in a disordered mass over a seat. Fluttershy was snoring weakly half on the floor, with Jaco snoring a lot more loudly in her mane. Pinkie Pie had fallen asleep while talking to the devil, and now was resting on his lap, much to the discomfort of Noxfero, who was scared to wake her up and activate again her infinite blabbling.

He mumbled something incoherent while the mare nudged her muzzle on his chest, mumbling something softly. Jaco yawned and opened an eye, noticing the devil with the pink pony sleeping on him. The little demon walked towards him, with a curious expression on his face. "Noxy, can I ask you a question?"

"No."

"Why are we returning to that town with those mares? Wasn't it more convenient to stay in the city? For your powers, I mean."

"I have my plans. These six have a wonderful life, something I never had. So I'll destroy them one after another, as is expected from the Archdevil of envy."

Jaco raised an eyebrow "You used to be a much better liar, Nox."

The little body of the demon was kicked out of the window of the wagon.


	8. Generosity

"Noooooooooooox!"

The devil didn't move, and continued to lay on the branch he had nominated as his bed. "If I stay still, she'll go away…" he thought, staying still.

"Noooooooooooox"" called again the mare.

"Come on, I'm not even breathing, how can you think I'm awake?" Noxfero thought.

"Noooooooooooox!" Pinkie Pie called again from under the tree. Her voiced pierced again into the brain of the demon, who groaned and gave up. He slid down the branch, grasping it with his tail and engulfing his body in his own wings, seeming like a big, grumpy and tired bat.

"Good morning Noxy." Smiled the mare, jumping under the tree.

"You are came here to tell me that? At this time of the morning?" groaned the devil. Indeed it was early, from the light probably was five in the morning.

"Of course not only that, silly. I'm here to ask you to come baking with me and the Cakes."

"Of course not." Growled the devil, rubbing his eyes. "Anyway, now you have to come ask me these useless things?"

"Well duh! A baker always wakes up early to prepare all the goodies before the other ponies wake up, so they can find them already baked when they wake up."

"Good to know." Grunted the devil, yawning.

"Come on Noxy, it'll be fun! Also, Mr. and Mrs. Cake said that they understand that you ate everything in their bakery because you were hungry, but since you are here, you can repay them by working a little with us."

"Yeah yeah… forget it." Growled the demon, closing his wings further.

"Come on Noxy! Noxy! Noxy! Noxy! Noxy! Noxy! Noxy! Noxy!"

"You are not going to stop pestering me untill I agree, aren't you?"

"Nopy dopy." Smiled the pink mare, looking at the devil.

Noxfero groaned and released his tail, falling to the ground. "Let's get this over with." He groaned, standing up.

-oOo-

"Oh, nononoonono Noxy, that's not the right way to do it!" said Pinkie worriedly as she walked towards the devil, half covered in flour.

"You don't say!" he growled, trying to clean himself off, but only worsening his situation. "I'm not the cook at my castle, it's Jaco who is the expert in cuisine."

"Yes, but I'm not a baker. But that's why i'm here, after all." giggled the little demon, smiling wildly. The bigger demon growled.

"It's not a problem Noxy, I'll help you, give me a second and I'll be there for you." Smiled Pinkie, then darted away. Noxfero grumbled something, while his minion jumped near him.

"Why don't you use your shadows to do all the work? I find it strange you didn't use them already."

"Idiot." Hissed Noxfero, pushing Jaco into a mixture he was preparing. "I'm not strong enough to craft shadows right now. If I was, of course I'd have used shadows."

"Here I am." chirped Pinkie, popping out behind him, wearing an apron. "Nox, let's start over, ok?"

The devil groaned a 'yes', as the mare poured some flour on the table, pouring some water in too, and began mixing with her hooves. "You don't need to be rushy, just be relaxed. Here, try it." Said Pinkie, smiling at the devil, grabbing his hands and moving them in the paste. "For you it must be even easier, since you got fingers."

After two minutes, they were tangled together, glued by the wet flour. "How the hell did this happened?" exclaimed Noxfero, trying to free his hands. The mare just laughed, her face pasted to the devil's chest.

-oOo-

"Maybe you could be more usefull by delivering the cakes." Grumbled , giving to the devil a pile of stuff to deliver. The two owners of the bakery weren't too happy to have found the devil and the pink party pony glued togheter, and Noxfero had passed an half an hour in trying to convince them that he wasn't trying to do any funny stuff with the mare. "She is a freaking horse!" he had shouted, getting an odd look from the couple. They were all horses, of course they couldn't understand what he meant.

"Of course Mr. Cake." Hissed the demon, grabbing the boxes. "And with that, my debt is erased, yes?"

"Wwwwell…no. You and your friend have eaten everything we have prepared in months. So you have to work here for at least six months for repay everything." Stated the yellowish earth pony, tapping his chin. The devil groaned and exited out from the bakery, while Jaco followed him and jumped in one of his pockets.

"How the hell did you get glued in wet flour?" Asked the little devil, looking at him.

"Don't ask. I don't have the slightest idea." Growled the other one, walking along the street that was beginning to be populated by ponies. Jaco looked at him, smirking, then he took out from inside the pocket a dressing gown and his soap-bubbles pipe.

"Son, you know, when I was your age, when we have to seduce those kind of ladies, we had to cover ourselves in cotton candy. Ladies love cotton candy." He emitted a trail of bubbles, before continuing his speech: "It's over the cotton candy that I built my house for the female."

Noxfero grabbed his minion and raised him in front of his face, while walking towards the boutique. "First, I'm older than you. Second, she is a fucking horse. Three, I might be a devil with a long list of perversions, but seducing animals is one of the few I don't have. Leave to Lilith what is Lilith's." he growled, then used his minion for slam open the boutique's door, startling Rarity, who was occupied around a dress on one of the mannequins.

"Is there any occasion where you don't hurt that poor creature?" asked the mare, pointing at Jaco with one hoof. Noxfero snickered, grabbing the box with Rarity's name on it and handing it to the unicorn.

"When I'm sleeping, mostly. He was created for the purpose of beeing my antistress." The mare just huffed and grabbed the box with her magic.

"What are those boxes?" she asked, sniffing at it. "They smeel like sweets."

"Stuff from the bakery. Since apparently I have to pay for what I had eaten the first day, they made me the delivery boy." Growled the devil, glaring at the pile of boxes.

"Well, I think that's a wonderful idea. It'll help you to integrate here. After all, you have been here for almost five days now and I saw you in town only two days ago, when you were cheasing Jaco.

"Wonderfull idea? I'm a guest in this world!" exclaimed the devil. Rarity just smiled and handed him a bunch of golden coins.

"Here you are. You'd better deliver all those sweets." Chirped the mare, returning to her dress. The devil growled and turned around, exiting the shop and making sure to step on Jaco on his way out.

-oOo-

"Dude… more than half of the morning to deliver those boxes? The hell man!" groaned Noxfero, falling on the ground.

"Actually, we have a last box here." Said Jaco, looking at the last little package. "Mh.. Cheerilee… ok, I have a good idea of who she is."

"Why do you know better than me who is who in this place?" mumbled the devil, standing up once again and waiting for instruction.

"Because I try to be a nice neighbor. To the school Noxy." Chirped the little devil, pointing the way. Noxfero just groaned and began walking.

"Soo… it's gotten a little better? Living here, I mean." Asked Jaco, after a few seconds of silence.

"I'm trying not to think about it." Noxfero answered in a tone that didn't admit any other questions.

-oOo-

"Well thank you for bringing me my sweets so soon. I really appreciate that." Smiled the purple earth pony.

"So soon? It's lunch break now." Questioned the devil, raising an eyebrow.

"And it's also over but, well, they will be a wonderful dessert this evening." Said the mare, still smiling. As if to confirm her words, a bell rang and slowly, foals began entering the classrom, glancing with surprise or fear at the demon, who just ignored them. The cutie mark crusaders glanced at him for a second, frowning, before sitting at their desks. The pink filly with the tiara on her head leaned towards her gray friend, whispering something in her ears.

"Well, since we have managed to do what we had to do, I think we can leave and let you and your class do whatever you have to…"

"Say Cheerilee, what are you going to do?" asked Jaco, stopping Noxfero.

"Well… we were going to relax a little this afternoon, so I brought the last flowers of the summer to do some compositions."

"OOOOOOOOOOOoooh can we watch?"

"Speak for you, parasite. I'm off to sleep. You will not convince me to stay here." Growled the bigger demon, huffing a cloud of smoke from his mouth.

-oOo-

"How the hell did you do that?" murmured the demon, sitting on a low chair and looking at the foals, divided into small groups, trying to make some simple flowers compositions.

"It's the magic." Whispered Jaco, waving his fingers in the air. He got a punch in his mouth as an answer. Satisfied, Noxfero stood up, beginning to walk between the desks. The pink and the gray fillies had managed to get all the roses and other beautiful flowers, and were now arranging them in a simple composition. The cutie mark crusaders had taken all the other most colored flowers, leaving the last group with the most dried and colorless flowers.

"You are not going to do very much with those." Snickered the devil, standing beside them. One of the children, a gray coated unicorn filly, turned and looked at him with her golden eyes.

"Well, sorry if we are not so mean as to take the flowers from the others." Stated her, glaring at the devil. One other filly, a cream coated one with a ruffled red mane and a pair of purple glasses, called at her.

"Come on Dinky, we have to do something here. It will be good for Cheerilee, I hope…"

"I don't know girls… those are pretty dried up daisies…I don't know what we can do with those…" mumbled a little colt with a white-brown coat.

"Come on you two, we cand o something really good, better than the others!" said unciorn filly with conviction. "Twist, help me with this daisies. Pip, be a dear and get a couple of scissors." The little colt nodded and ran off, while the other filly tried to help the one called Dinky to craft a shape for the flowers.

"I wonder…" whispered the devil, leaning over the pair "How much do you want to impress your teacher…?"

"Don't even try it!" Exclaimed Dinky, turning to face him, startling the demon. There were few creatures able to look him directly in the eyes so close. "We saw what did you do to our friends, at the party."

Noxfero blinked, before smiling wickedly "Real friends, so good to take all the good flowers, huh?" The unicorn filly turned away in anger.

"They just want to beat Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. That's all, it's understandable."

"Of course… say, what if I help you out gratis?" hissed the devil, leaning a little forward. "Just to test some of my powers… no danger, I promise…" The two fillies looked at him, but before they could say anything, he had already placed one of his hands over the flowers, glancing at Cheerilee, before whispering something. A few small strings of shadows dripped out from his black claws, rolling towards the flowers, entering into their dead petals. With a twitch, the petals fell down, replaced by a big conical flower, dark as the night, sprinkled with red, shining dots.

"Woah! What are those?" asked the little colt, returning with the scissors.

"Flowers of envy; I didn't give them a name yet." Smiled Noxfero, looking at the result. "I can't create something from nothing. Not in my current condition anyway… but corrupt a dead body is something I can do…"

"They are cute!" exclaimed the one named Twist, raising one of the flowers and looking at it.

"Just because they are dead!" said Jaco, scared and hiding behind Dinky. "When they are alive are terrible meat-eating machines."

"Oh come on, I just trained them to hunt you." Snickered the demon, patting his minion's head.

"They are good. And I know what we can do with them…" stated the little colt.

-oOo-

"Well done, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon." Said the teacher mare, walking in front of the tables. The two fillies smiled looking at the table of the crusaders. The mare looked at the work of the three fillies: the mark of the crusaders, crafted with sunflower's and violet's petals. "Not bad, not bad at all girls." She cheered, walking on."And now, let's see what…oh!"

In front of her, on the third table, there was a perfect reproduction of Princess Luna, crafted with the dark petals of unknown flowers. "That's… beautiful! Wonderful work you three, especially for having found a flower that wasn't one of the ones I brought! "

The three foals smiled happily, while Cheerilee gave them their prize: half of her sweets from Sugarcube Corner.

"That's an impressive creation." Admitted Apple Bloom, walking towards Dinky. "What's with those flowers though?"

The little unicorn filly lowered her tone, whispering to the other one: "The tall guy give them to us. But just because you three and Tiara took all the good ones."

"Ah… yes, Ah think that wasn't a kind thing to do, after all… sorry, we just wanted to beat those snooty ponies."

"We imagined that. Do you want half of my sweets?" asked Dinky, smiling.

-oOo-

"That wasn't what I was expecting…" growled the devil, from the roof of the school, smelling the air. "I was hoping for a brawl between the childrens… bah, that's not the place." He raised up and opened his wings, jumping off and beginning to fly towards his tree, for another nap, while Jaco just rolled off the roof, smiling, this time for a good reason.

-oOo-

The little creature slammed the scarlet door behind him and walked towards the little bed in the room. He was fuming, more than usual. He sat on the sheets, scratching them with his claws. Then Junior turned around, looking at his butler: a tall -extremly tall- human figure, dressed in a black, elegant suit with a red circle with a red x in it stitched on one of his pockets; his face was blank without mouth, eyes, or any distinctive features.

"Slender Man!"

"Yes, young master?" responded the figure, with a light voice, that came out from nowhere.

"Go into limbo and hire the Sibilla, and every other clairvoyant's soul you can find. The price is not a problem! Just be quick." Growled the little demon, massaging his forehead.

The figure nodded and simply disappeared.

The little devil groaned and fell on the bed, looking at the ceiling with angry eyes. And the ceiling looked back at him. A smiling mouth full of sharpened teeth and two big yellow eyes was descending towards him, while the figure of a cat began forming around it. "So tell me, little master: almost a week, and your father is still on the loose?" asked a red-and-black stripped cat, floating around Junior's body.

"yYs…" groaned the little devil. "I don't know what to do: Satan is furious, Mephistopheles had tried to convince him to permit him to rule this floor of hell… dad's servants have problems taking the souls under control, and that idiot Pumpkinhead said that he learned how to create that machine in a dream and forget about it in another dream when I put that idiot on the work." He sighed, before, standing up. "Ches… get Grim. His shite can open portals. Maybe he can help."

"You can't order around a Cheshire cat, Junior." Purred the cat, floating on his back. "Not even a creature like you. We do what we want to do."

"Right, I can't order you around, but I can make you suffer enough to regret your decision of not helping me."

"Fair enough… but I don't think the Grim Reaper will have time… you know, with those two kids…"

"I'll deal with Mandy and Billy, if needed. Now go!" growled the devil, glaring at the smiling cat.

"As you wish…" he whispered, while disappearing. "But I have one question… what if at the end, he does not want to come back…?"

"What? Who? Dad? What are you talking about? Do you know something? Ches, you damned cat..!" began the demon, but the cat had already vanished into another reality.

"Stupid cat…" he mumbled, laying on the bed again. "…why in all the universe would dad not want to return to the only place where he is something that he appreciates?"


	9. Laughter

Jaco's voice trilled through the fresh air of the morning. "I'm booooored Nox, entertain me!"

The devil opened one eye, groaning loudly. "Jaco, it's four in the morning!"

"But I'm booooored!" cried the little devil, jumping over Noxfero's back. "Let's play Dungeons and Dragons!"

The bigger devil turned one eye on him. "No."

"Oh come on! It'll be fun!"

"Not at four in the morning. And not with just the two of us!"

"Well… find a group! It's your duty as the Dungeon master."

The devil grabbed his minion with his tail, and threw him over the tree.

-oOo-

"Whoa Noxy, you have a super smashed face! Didn't you sleep?" asked Pinkie, when the devil stumbled inside the bakery, yawning.

"I tried, Jaco just woke me up one hour ago." He managed to say, before another yawn.

"Well Noxy, smile, because making cupcakes will surely wake you up!" cheered the mare, guiding him to the working table. The devil mumbled something about silly minions, beginning to help Pinkie mix the wet flour. A few minutes passed without words, just the happy humming of Pinkie Pie was heard, untill Noxfero turned towards her and blurted out what he was thinking.

"Pinkie, do you want to play a game with me, Jaco, and somebody else?"

The mare's face lightened in a big smile. "Why of course I'd like to play a game with you! What kind of game?"

Noxfero blinked at the mare's enthusiasm, before continuing his explanation. "It's called Dungeons and Dragons. It's a role playing game from our mortal world. Me, Jaco and some of our friends used to play it when we were alive. And also in hell. It's pretty fun, in fact."

"Huh… role playing?" asked the mare, scratching her nose in confusion. "I'm not sure I know what that means."

"You play a certain role in a group of characters, with your own abilities, spells and characteristics. I'll explain it all later, ok?"

"Oki Doki Loki. Who are going to be the other players?"

"Probably your friends." Answered the devil, while gathering the boxes of sweets to deliver. "At least, I know them a little better. And I think that they could be happyall playing together."

"That's sure is." Nodded the mare.

"Ok… I'll tell them them, and see that they come here later for all the detailed explanation. After my delivery trip, of course."

"Oki Doki Loki. See you later." Cheered the mare, waving her hoof.

-oOo-

"Role playing? Well, when I was in Canterlot, at the school for gifted unicorns, I heard some older ponies talk about those. And you have one from your own world?" asked Twilight, looking at the devil.

"Yup. And I thought that maybe it could be fun to play together."

"Oooh, that's so nice of you." Smiled the mare.

"Trying to look on the bright side. If I wasn't going to play to D&D, Jaco deprive me of my sleep."

"Fair enough, I suppose.." giggled the mare. "So, what are we going to do?"

"Meeting at the bakery later for details and all that stuff…even if…" The devil looked around at the books, then return his gaze to Twilight. "Since you are a fast reader, I can hope that you can read this entire manual by this afternoon?" he asked, managing to take out from one of his pockets, using his tail, a big, golden book that he handed to the unicorn.

" Player's Manual…? Yes, I'll read it in two or three hours."

"Exellent, so you can help the others. Ok, go at Sugarcube Corner in the afternoon, and we'll plan everything."

-oOo-

"Well, It seems like it could be awesome, for a table game!" exclaimed the pegasus, kicking a couple of clouds.

"You have to make it awesome." Stated the devil, flapping lazily his wings. "It has the potential."

"Well, I'd like to try!" grinned the pegasus. "Without me, it will be probably boring." The devil just huffed.

-oOo-

"It sounds…nice…" murmured Fluttershy, hiding behind her mane. "But is it not going to be scary… isn't it…?"

"Well…no, theoretically. Are you going to play with us then? Here's your… carrot candies?"

"They are for my pet rabbit…yes… I think I can play with you… it's nice for you to ask us to play with you…"

"Yeah yeah…whatever…"

-oOo-

"Well, Ah don't know. Ah'm not really good at these things. But after all Ah'm going to have less work on the farm, since it's autumn and all… Ah think Ah can try it."

"Good to know. Here's your apple pie, by the way." Smirked the demon, passing a box to the mare.

-oOo-

"Well, at least it seems a game less chaotic than Pinkie Pie's usual games, at least." Stated the white unicorn, passing to the demon a pile of golden coins. "I'll go to Sugarcube Corner later, you have my word."

The devil nodded and walked out of the boutique, thinking. "Jaco!" The little demon popped out from one of the devil's poket.

"Yes captain, I'm here, waiting for orders!"

"Go at the bakery and explain to them the general rules, help them with their character sheets and all that." ordered Noxfero, handing to his minion a bunch of blank sheets and a group of dice.

"Aren't these the bone dice?" asked the little devil, looking at them.

"Yeah. What about them?"

Jaco raised an ayebrow.

"…ok, ok…geez…use the plastic dice then."

-oOo-

"Ok girls, now that your sheets are ready and you know the general rules, we can head towards Twilight's home."

"My home? Why my home? Also, why do we have to be humans, all of us?" asked the purple unicorn, levitating her sheet and walking beside the little demon.

"Well, humans are the easiest race to use for anyone who is new in the rpg. They are most versatile, both on a technical and a inerpretation level. And your house because it's the biggest and nearest."

"I hope it's more fun then just writing numbers and rolling dice." Said disappointed Rainbow Dash. "We lost almost all the afternoon in filling in these charts."

"Well, that's normal, since I also had to explain the rules. You'll see, it'll be worth it." Stated Jaco, smiling and leading the group towards the tree-house in the center of the town.

He opened the door, and was greeted by the smell of vegeable soup and the faint aroma of profumed candles. The floor was empty, except for the baby dragon that was managing to place some plates of soup on a low table, while hanging upside down from the ceiling was Noxfero, intent on reading a big blue book.

"Ooh, he's still creating the session. Come on girls…" whispered the little demon, entering, waving at the little dragon and placing itself under the other demon. The mares followed him, looking skeptically at the hanging devil. They placed themselves around the table, beginning to eat whatever the little dragon had prepared them.

"Ok, I'm ready." Finally exclaimed the devil, falling down (on Jaco, of course) and sitting in front of the mares. "Ok, tell me what classes you chose, so in case I have to change some encounter."

"Well… ok… I choose the mage." Said Twilight proudly "Once I read about it, I had immediatly decided to make one."

"Kinda obvious.." noted Noxfero. "Ok, you chose what I expected. Let me guess, then… Fluttershy, you picked up the druid, yes?"

"Oh..it's… it's not good?" murmured her, rolling the paper between her hooves.

"It's ok. Then then then… Pinkie the bard I assume, still too obvious." The pink mare smiled and nodded enthusiastically. "Then.. Rainbow, if I have understood you, you have picked up a barbarian…"

"Of course. That's the best!"

"That's a chaotic class, It will only cause problems." stated Rarity. "I, for those concerned, picked up a rogue, the perfect mix of abilities, deadliness and elegance."

"So I guessed your character right too… Applejack, you are the last."

"Ah was unsure… so at the end, Ah rolled randomly, and it seems that Ah'm a hunter."

Noxfero raised an eyebrow. "Hunter? Really? I thought you was going to be a monk. Oh well, who cares."

"Here are their backstories!" said Jaco, handing some papers to the bigger demon.

"That's good. Then I'll go through these while you eat, so we can begin afterwards…" he smiled wickedly, licking his lips: it was going to be a fun night, after all.

"Ok then… let's see… the first session is allways hard for the master, since I have to make all of you encounter each other…" mumbled the devil, looking at the blue book.

"What? We already know each other, silly." Giggled Pinkie.

"I mean the characters."

"Oh… and can't we know each other already?" asked the pink mare, while the others were watching as Jaco placed a big squared sheet on the table, with a group of dice of different shapes.

"I think it's a little forced." Answered the demon, flipping a page. "Even if… it could be fitting for your group. Friends from the same village, then something happened, and then… ok, it could work. I was skeptical, since the other group was more…well… full of idiots.."

"I'm one of the idiots!" exclaimedJaco happily, jumping at his side.

"Ok…mh…let's see…" muttered the devil, looking at his manual. "…let's start easy…"

-oOo-

"Buck, is this dice cursed or what?" snapped the cyan pegasus, slamming her hooves on the table.

"That'll happen." Smirked the devil, moving a miniature on the sheet. "If I'm not mistaken, now you are almost dead Dash."

"Oh ponyfeathers!"

"I'd like to remind you that leaving the rest of the group to run around at random is the easiest way to die." Smirked the devil.

"If you didn't divide us from her, she will not be in danger for her life!" exclaimed Twilight, while Fluttershy had her hooves at her mouth, looking worriedly at her friend.

"Well, you are out of the goblin's village, and she is down in the basement of one of the houses. I really want to know how you hope to find her in time." Said the devil, waving his ears.

"Well… It's day, ain't it?" asked Applejack, looking at her sheet.

"Yep."

"And the ground is all muddy, ain't it?"

"Uh…yes?"

"So for me it must be easy to track Dash's steps, right?"

The devil growled something under his breath, before answering: "Yes, it should be easy…"

-oOo-

"Now, why in tarnation Ah can't attack the troll's patrol?" asked the orange mare, looking at the devil.

"You can do it, of course. I just said It's a stupid move, since they can call for backup."

"That's silly, we can take them!" grinned Rainbow, looking at her miniature.

"You are stll grounded for attacking the goblins alone Rainbow! Back to the cushion of shame!" ordered Twilight.

"Everypony please calm down." Stated rarity sweetly, before looking at Fluttershy. "Fluttershy dear, could you please do a roll for nature knowledge and tell us whatever you know about trolls?"

"Uh… but Rarity, It's Noxfero is the one who's going to say what I know… I don't even know about trolls…"

"It's okay dear, I was roleplaying, just toss the dice."

"Uh…ok… -roll- oh, seventeen, plus my bonus… it's twenty-three in total… is it good…?"

"It's splendid Fluttershy. Nox, I want to know about the sight and the hearing of the trolls."

"Bad…" answered Noxfero, baring his teeth "They usually use their nose for scanning areas. They didn't recognize your scent because of the fact that you are all covered in mud…"

"Well good! Then I'll try a roll for hiding and one for moving silently!" chirped the white unicorn, grabbing the dice.

-oOo-

"…so, if I'm correct, pressing the right bottom button will open the door, right?" asked Twilight, smiling at the devil.

Noxfero was profusely sweating, licking nervously at his lips "Correct… the door of the catacombs open witha low rumble…"

"Well, that was an easy riddle." Smiled Twilight, while her friends looked at her with a stunned gazes.

-oOo-

"OH COME ON NOW!" roared Noxfero, slamming the monster's manual on the table. "A natural twenty for calming the basilisk? That's fucking crazy!"

"I'm sorry…" murmured the yellow pegasus.

-oOo-

"And THAT's what I call a dashing blow!" cheered the cyan pegasus, raising her hooves in the air. Noxfero was speechless.

-oOo-

"Ok, I had enough of this shit, the session is over!" barked the devil, looking at the dice that Pinkie had just rolled. "You beat the cult leader with that! I assume we can call it an end for the first session." The mares smiled wildly, looking at each other.

"That was fun! We have to do it again!" cheered Pinkie Pie, jumping around Noxfero.

"Actually, that was a hay of a night. That was funny." Smiled Applejack, yawning.

"Three in the morning?" almost shouted Twilight, looking at the clock.

"Wow… playing for almost six hours… and we leveled three times too…" smiled Rarity, leaning on the floor. "Twilight, can we sleep here?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty beat to..." yawned Dash, stretching her wings.

"No problem girls, looking at the time. Nox, do you want to stay too?" asked the purple mare, raising her eyes, but the couple of demons had disappeared.

"Oh hay, how did he do that?" she asked, looking around.

-oOo-

"Fucking session." Growled the devil, flapping his wings in the cold air of the night.

"Well, they had fun." Stated the little demon, smiling from one of Noxfero's pockets.

"You helped them a lot, faking your rolls."

"Of course. Death in the first session is always bad, and no one will enjoy it. So I have to help things a little bit."

"But you always let us die in painfull ways!" noted the little demon.

"Well… shut up! They were complet noobs! Now we can hope to play again, at least."

"So you enjoyed it?"

"Shut the hell up!"

"I bet you diiiiiiid." Sang the little devil.

"I'm warning you Jac!"

"You totally did!"

The little devil was launched over the forest at high speed.

-OoO-OoO-OoO-OoO-OoO-OoO-OoO-OoO-OoO-OoO-OoO-OoO-OoO-OoO-OoO

Howdy reader, hope you are enjoing the story till now. Next episode will be set during Nightmare Night. But I'm unshure about one simple little thing: Jaco's costume. His idiocy is so great that I really can't chose one for him. So, I'm asking for a little help here. Leave a review or send me a pm, proposing what kind of costume could be appropriate for him to wear. Stupidity and nosense are welcomed. Thank for the help guys.


	10. Nightmare Night

"Pinkie, tell me one thing." Said Noxfero, while decorating an enormous cake. "Why in the last days have we made only sweets shaped as the moon, bats and such?"

The pink mare raised her eyes from the baking tin of biscuits where she was working. "Well, they are for Nightmare Night… it's just a week away, after all." The devil raised an eyebrow, looking at her.

"Oh, come on Noxy, I told you like five times in the past few days!" exclaimed Jaco, emerging from a pile of sweets.

"And you even pretend that I pay attention to you?" huffed Noxfero, finishing the cake. Over the last month he had become good at this. At least, he never got himslef glued to something again.

"It's a verry fun night! We all put on costumes and get free candy!" chirped Pinkie. "It's kinda a tradition! Sometimes it's a little scary, like last year's, with Princess Luna yelling and storming all over Ponyville. But that was fun, at the end."

"Sounds like a night where I don't want to be around, then." Grunted the devil.

"Don't say that Nox, It'll be fun! You know, thinking about the time of the year and the theme of this festival, I suppose it's similar to the Halloween in our mortal world." Stated Jaco, cleaning his little hands on his apron.

The devil groaned, looking at the ceiling. "I hate Halloween…"

"Is there something that you don't hate?" asked the pink mare, looking at him with curiosity.

"You didn't hate halloween when we were alive." Noted Jaco from the pile of sweets.

"Of course. At the time it was fun. But in hell, Halloween means that the souls have the chance to escape to the mortal world… and we have to bring all them back. It was awful work."

"Well… that's true… but here we are not in Hell… are we?" stated the little demon, raising a finger. Noxfero blinked. Then his eyes widened and his ears flapped.

"I need to go!" he blurted, darting out of the bakery.

"Noxy, wait, you have your delivery to…" shouted the mare, running behind him; but when she get to the door, she could only spot the tiny silhouette of the flying demon far away.

"Where is he going?" asked , walking out from the shop and looking in the same direction.

"Don't know sugar pie." Answered "He was saying something about getting some coffins."

"Yeah, that's Noxy." Stated Jaco, nodding. "Say , can I borrow some jelly?"

-oOo-

"Just a few hours, and Nightmare Night will begin! I can't wait to go around getting free candies!" said Pinkie, jumping happily towards Rarity's boutique, the little demon sitting on her head.

"Yeah, free candies are always the best!" agreed the little demon. They entered the boutique, where Rarity was stitching a purple dress, adding some glitter over the cape of the dress.

"Wow Rarity, that's a super cool dress!" exclaimed Pinkie, looking at the elaborate creation.

"Well, thank you Pinkie. Since I was't able to attend to the Nightmare Night last year, due to that bad flu, I decided to make a stunning dress this year. You know, to make up for the last time."

"Absolutely! And that's a great witch's dress, you will be amazing!" declared Pinkie, jumping around the dress and looking at it from all the angles.

"Thanks dear. But tell me, you two are here for your costumes, are you not?" asked Rarity, smiling.

"Half of my costume. The other half is waiting at Sugarcube Corner." Corrected Jaco, jumping off the pink mare's head.

"Well, they are both ready." Stated Rarity, handing a little white hat and a little white trouser to the devil, who smiled and grasped them. "And for you Pinkie, here is what you asked me. By the way, I can't imagine what you are going to do with that." said the unicorn, passing a black bundle to the pink mare.

"That's a surprise." Giggled Pinkie. "Rarity, can I ask you another little thing? Can I borrow one of your maneband?"

"But of course. I can't wait to see your costume." smiled Rarity, grasping with her magic a maneband and handing it to the other mare. Then she turned towards Jaco, with a slight frown on her face "So… where did Noxfero vanish to? It's been almost a week… is he going to miss Nightmare Night?"

Jaco shrugged, and jumped out of the window.

"Not a great answer…" grumbled the unicorn mare.

"I hope he comes back! I want to show him my costume!" cheered Pinkie, walking towards the door.

-oOo-

"Great costume Twilight! You look a lot like Discord. Except for the fact that you are not laughing lake a maniac." Stated Applejack from her apple stand, looking at the mismatched dress that the unicorn was wearing.

"Thanks! It took a lot of work, but it turned out nicely. You have the same dress as last year though."

The orange mare sighed. "Ah know Twi, but Ah didn't have the time to make another one."

"You could have just asked me, Applejack." Stated Rarity, walking towards them in her beautiful witch's dress. "It wouldn't have been a problem at all. I also found the time also to make Fluttershy's. And to actually convince her to put that on and come to the festival." She pointed at the pegasus, half hidden behind Rainbow Dash, dressed with a smaller version of the costume used by them to get Spike back from the dragon's migration.

"I'm a dragon….roar…." Fluttershy stated with her little sweet voice. The other one giggled.

"That's nice. And what do you think of mine?" asked Rainbow Dash, proudly.

"Ah don't know Dash… are you some sort of trash can?" asked the farm pony, scratching her head.

The cyan pegasus looked at her in disbelief. "I'm my Dungeon and Dragon's character!"

"Oh…" exclaimed Applejack, looking at her. "Sure you are not a trash can?"

"So, where is Pinkie!" asked Twilight loudly, trying to avoid an argument between Dash and AJ.

"Here I am!" exclaimed the pink mare, popping out from behind them.

"Pinkie, what's the deal with that raincoat?" asked Twilight, looking at Pinkie: she was indeed wearing a black raincoat, long and heavy.

"Wait wait, I haven't finished yet!" she exclaimed, and put on the maneband, where she had attached two fake bat wings. Than she put on a grumpy expression. "Meh, I'm so evil and grumpy, and I always pretend to not have fun while I play with my friends!" she stated, in a poor imitation of Noxfero's voice. Her friends laughed.

"That's a great idea Pinkie, I just hope Nox will not miss that!" snickered the cyan pegasus, rolling in the air. They all laughed, before Twilight called for their attention.

"Let's move, we don't want to make Princess Luna wait."

While speaking and walking, they managed to arrive at the center of the city, where in a storm of sparks and dark clouds, Princess Luna, disguised as Nightmare Moon, was terrorizing a group of foals: the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Dinky Doo, Pipsqueak and Twist ran away, followed by the fuzzy figure of Jaco, that darted after them, screaming.

"Having fun, princess?" Twilight asked, smiling, while Luna was regaining her appearance.

"Twilight Sparkle! So good to see all of you again." She responded, smiling. "Yes, so far. Even if being scared instead of scaring could be a nice change of pace."

All the lights went out.

The stars, the lamps, the candles, lights inside the houses, they all turned down. After a second, only the lamps turned on again, emitting a cold, azure glow. From the darkness, stringed instruments began to play.

"That's a good idea Twilight. A spooky setting will surely add more to the atmosphere." Stated Luna, looking around, impressed. "How did you manage to make the stars invisible?

"That's not my doing…" Twilight whispered, looking around.

Suddenly two voices spoke, or rather, sang behind them, while some wind instruments joined the music. They turned, imitated by the mass of pony that was present in the square.

Two shadows were singing, circling around each other: " Colts and fillies of every age, Wouldn't you like to see something strange?" the two shadows fused together, giving the impression of a two headed pony. "Come with us and you will see, this, our town of Halloween!"

The shadow jumped off the wall, dividing itself into a group of smaller shadows, that assumed the aspect of translucent ghosts. Three big carved pumpkins jumped out of the ground, startling some ponies. "This is Halloween, this is Halloween! Pumpkins scream in the dead of night!"

The ghosts swirled in the air, singing with their echoing voices: " This is Halloween, everybody make a scene. Trick or treat till the neighbors gonna die of fright. It's our town, everybody scream, In this town of Halloween…"

From the darkness, a bed frame mounted on wheels slid towards the group of little fillies. Two burning eyes lit-up in the darkness under it, with a smiling mouth full of spiked theet. The creature open his mouth, singing with a screechy and terrifing voice, while three spiked tentacles poked out from under the frame " I am the one hiding under your bed. Teeth ground sharp and eyes glowing red."

The fillies screamed, and ran away, while on the other side of the square some ponies jumped away from a stair, since a big, robust arm had popped out from under it, grasping the steps with his fingers similar to angry vipers. "I am the one hiding under your stairs. Fingers like snakes and spiders in my hair!"

The ghosts lowered and circled over the ponies, singing again their line. :"This is Halloween, this is Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!" in the same moment, four coffins emerged from the ground.

Three of them opened, freeing three tall creatures with white skin, black hair and two long fangs hanging down from thei mouths. "In this town we call home, everyone hail to the pumpkin song!" they sang in choral, clear voices, just before exploding in a swarm of bats.

The fourth coffin opened, revealing an exact copy of the Mayor… if it wasn't for all the scars and stitch marks. "In this town, don't we love it now? Everypony's waiting for the next surprise!" And just turned her head of three hundred and sixty degrees. Fluttershy fell on the ground, terrified, grasping Rainbow so tight that the cyan pegasus was turning bluer.

The ghosts just lowered a little more. "Round that corner, man hiding in the trash can, something's waiting now to pounce, and how you'll..."

"Scream!" shouted three shadows shaped as a wolf, an amorphus blob and a demonic creature, jumping out from behind the sweets table of the Cakes, who screamed, terrified, and gallopped away with their childrens, even if the two little foals were laughing and clapping their hooves. "This is Halloween. Red 'n' black, slimy green! Aren't you scared?"

Two shadows flew over the square, dispersing the ghosts. Twilight noticed that they were both wearing a dress similar to Rarity's. "Well, that's just fine. Say it once, say it twice. Take a chance and roll the dice. Ride with the moon in the dead of night." They both laughed maniacally, before vanishing in a puff of blu smoke.

"What's happening here?" tried to yell the blue alicorn, before being cut off by the scream of two mares: a big three was advancing toward the center of the square, his roots sliding on the ground. The problem was worsened by the enormous number of ponies that hung from its branches. A cavernous mouth opened on the trunk, singing in a low and harmonic voice: "Everybody scream, everybody scream!"

The hanged ponies suddenly turned towards the audience, scaring the living hay out of them "In our town of Halloween!".

The tree then rotted and vanished in a group of shadows, along with the hanged ponies. A stage light flared suddenly, showing a bigger and distorted version of jaco, with a mouth full of spiky fangs and a big, red nose. "I am the clown with the tear-away face!" to proove his point, he grabbed his face and pulled it away with a ripping sound, leaving a bloody mask in its place. "Here in a flash and gone without a trace!" And again, to prove his point, he disappeared in a puff of scarlet smoke.

"What's happening here?" asked Rarity, looking around, while a strong breeze began to blow, and a hissing voice sang just a few inches away from their ears, even if there was no one near them.

" I am the "who" when you call, "Who's there?" I am the wind blowing through your hair" whispered the voice, moving invisibly towards the sky, luring their gazes towards the moon, where an enormous, demonic shadow was looking down towards them.

"I am the shadow on the moon at night, filling your dreams to the brim with fright!" mocked the shadow, disintegrating into a pack of crows that flew away.

The ghosts lowered again, increasing their speed. " This is Halloween, this is Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!"

With a splurt of dirt, two foals emerged from the ground, their bodies black as scorched wood, their mane pure dancing fire. " Tender lumplings everywhere, life's no fun without a good scare! That's our job, but we're not mean In our town of Halloween!"

The ghosts stopped and flashed, screaming: "In this town!" before"liquifying themselves , pouring into the ground like water. The fake Mayor jumped over the coffin, walking slowly towards the ponies that were gathered now all around the princess of the moon.

"Don't we love it now? Everypony's waiting for the next surprise!" she sang, while thousands of shadows emerged from the ground, loking towards them with their black eyes. " Skeleton Jack might catch you in the back, and scream like a banshee! Make you jump out of your skin. This is Halloween, everybody 't ya please make way for a very special guy. Our man jack is King of the Pumpkin patch,

everyone hail to the Pumpkin King now!" From the darkness, emerged a big, enormous scaffold, where chained, there was the immobile figure of an alicorn, an enormous shadow standing over her.

"Princess Celestia…?" asked Twilight in disbelief, while the alicorn at her side was opening her wings, looking terrified as the shadow raised in the air an enormous axe. The shadows all around them were still singing, pitch rising higher with every word.

"This is Halloween, this is Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!" they cried, as the shadow suddenly swung down the axe, chopping off the head of Princess Celestia, that fell with a little thump in a pool of her own blood. The two black foals with flaming mane walked towards the head, singing sweetly, while the big shadow approached the head end grasped her lifeless mane, raising it into the air. "In this town we call home…"

"Sister!" cried Luna, jumping into the air and darting toward the scaffold, then suddenly stopped, terrified as Celestia's head turned, looking towards Luna, opening her eyes.

Two crazy, multicolored eyes stared , while her mouth opened in a wild grin full of pointed teeth, singing in a gurgling and raspy voice "Everyone hail to the pumpkin song!"

The shadows went crazy, sliding and rolling towards the scaffold, fusing one with the other, while from the shadows the music was becaming cacophonic and dissonant. The shadows fused and raised into an enormous black form.

"Oh, here it is. Melodramatic as always." Stated Jaco, looking at the mass of darknes from behind Dinky Doo.

Noxfero emerged from the shadows, as the forms of Celestia's body and all the other creatures danced around him in a confusing dark smoke, before disappearing with the last gulps of music, that the devil accompanied with a loud roar.

"So melodramatic."

Fluttershy just fainted with a weak whimper.

-oOo-

"You have to say, that was awesome!" exclaimed Noxfero, flapping his wings exitedly. "I always wanted to do something like that, but never had the occasion!"

"I would have appreciated it more if you hadn't had pretended to cut the head of my mentor!" growled Twilight angrily, looking at the devil with a frown on her face.

"Come on, I needed something epic for the finale. You have to admit, you were scared!" grinned the devil.

"That… yes. How did you do that? All the music, creatures, and such?" asked the unicorn, suddenly curious, while at her side, Princess Luna was looking at the devil, a little concerned. Behind, Rainbow and Rarity were trying to wake up Fluttershy, while Applejack was calming the still scared crowd of ponies.

"Well… since I had to do something big, I needed more power. So I just flew all over this nation for the past week, absorbing sins from the big cities. With only a week of absorption, I regained only a simple form of shadow crafting, as I call it… not the best, but good enough for this night" Noxfero answered, moving a finger: a shadowy trumpet raised from Twilight's shadow, squealing and startling the unicorn.

"Yes, I was thinking that you were going to do something like that!" exclaimed Jaco, sliding out from under the little table they were sitting around, startling Twilight again. Noxfero lowered his gaze, looking at his minion and raising an eyebrow.

"What are you dressed as?" He asked, looking with confusion to the little demon: he has his face painted blue with a flat, white hat on the head. He was also wearing a banana suit, and the lower half of his body was closed in a cube of brown jelly, with the addition of rainbow-colored sprinkles.

"I'm dressed as a smurf dressed as a banana dressed as a peanut butter jelly cube!" he exclaimed him happily, jumping on the table.

"And how did you get that idea?" asked again Noxfero, looking even more confused.

"Oh that's easy: you see, we got three suggestions for a costume, so I decided to fuse all of them into one costume!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" asked the devil.

"Oops, sorry! I'm not supposed to be able to break the fourth wall. Well, I'll be going then!" exclaimed the little devil, bouncing towards the group of foals that were waiting for him.

The devil just huffed, and turned to the mares, grumbling.

"He is a strange subject." Stated Luna, looking at Jaco and the foals. "From what Twilight said you said, devil are supposed to be evil."

"And we are. Jaco is just…not quite a real devil. He wasn't supposed to end up in hell." Answered Noxfero, grabbing one of the glasses carried by a passing butler, gulping the liquid inside, then spitting it on the table. "Alfalfa juice? Are you serious?" He growled, lowering the glass to the table.

"What do you mean…?" asked the purple mare curiously, before being cut off by Pinkie as she leapt over Noxfero, smashing him to the ground.

"Noxy! You left me alone to bake for a whole week!"

"I was…"

"You were preparing that amazing music number! That was so cool! And fun! A little gross in the finale, but it was great! I never expected you to be a musical kind of guy, but indeed you are! And you can make the shadows sing? That's so amazing!" Pinkie blurted out, before stopping and taking a deep breath.

"Good to know Pinkie, could you please get off my chest now?" asked the devil in an annoyed tone. Pinkie moved away, and when the devil stood up, she raised on her hindlegs and made a turn, showing Noxfero her costume.

"…I'll say that imitation is the first form of respect. Even if I don't know if I want to be respected by a crazy pink pony." He stated after some seconds. Pinkie just giggled.

"Come on, let's have some fun then!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash, flying over them. "Fluttershy is awake too."

"Oh Shy, I hope I didn't terrorize you to much." mocked the devil, wickedly at the trembling pegasus.

"Oh, no… it was… a cute song… I was just… um…startled a little…"

"Of course…" grinned the devil, as a big monster of shadows began to materialize behind her.

-oOo-

"Oh, come on! That's not fair!" exclaimed the cyan, armored pegasus, raising her head from the bowl full fo water where she was supposed to pick up apples.

On the other side, Noxfero grinned, keeping two apples blocked by his long forked tongue. "No mah faut at u ot ha' a 'ong tonge." The devil managed to say, his mouth hanging open. He gulped both the apples, grinning. "It's not a problem Dash. It was allready proven that I was better than you."

"Why we don't try throwing the spider?" she asked, pointing at a spider web and some ponies trying to throw some fake spiders onto it.

"I could just make the spiders move on their own." Snickered the devil.

"I already tried. It's not a good strategy." Luna whispered loudly, causing another fit of giggles

After ten minutes, Noxfero was back by fifteen points. "This is a stupid game anyway." He growled, lowering the spiders. He moved his gaze and noted that Jaco, on another web, had totaled a lot of centers. The devil groaned, throwing the fake spider over Jaco, and then flicked his finger, releasing a little black string that flew into the spider.

In a moment, the tiny doll spider had transformed into a dog-sized green spider with a open mouth full of sharp fangs, that hissed and charged Jaco.

"That's a sport, down in hell." Grinned the devil, as his minion ran down the middle of the square with the spider biting at his head.

-oOo-

"That was fun! One of my best Halloweens ever!" cried Jaco, raising his hands to the sky. Noxfero groaned: the little devil was currently staying in one of his pocket, dirtying it with the jelly and the enormous amount of candies that he had managed to get.

"Nightmare Night, not Halloween. By the way, why the hell is it called Nightmare Night?" mumbled the devil, while walking towards their tree.

"It's all about a mad mare that wanted the night to last forever, or something." muttered Jaco, gulping a lollipop.

"Meh, and they find that evil, when our mortals enjoy putting meatballs full of glass shards in parks to kill dogs and cats? It's clearly evident that these ponies don't have any idea of real evil."

"Or just human idiocy."

"Yes, these things ususally coincide." Growled the devil, beginning to climb the tree.

"Well, but thinking about that, we should be happy to be here."

The devil grumbled something, laying on a branch, while his minion continued to chomp his sweets from the pockets.

"So, what can you do now?" asked Jaco, gulping candy after candy.

"Not much, actually, basic shadowcrafting… little movements, basic forms, create sound through air . Good for show, but far from my usual powers."

"Better than nothing." shrugged his minion.

"Noxy?" called a voice from under the tree. The devil lowered his gaze, and looked at the pink mare that was standing there.

"What do you want Pinkie? I was trying to sleep."

"Sleep? But silly, it's time for our baking!" cheered the mare, a trace of tiredness.

"Are you kidding? It's five in the morning already! I didn't sleep at all! And neither did you, Pinkie!" groaned the devil.

"Come on Grumpy McGrump, you'll see that you will wake up while baking. And if not, I'll tickle you until you do wake up."

The devil groaned and fell to the ground. Pinkie smiled and gently pressed a hoof between his ribs, making the devil jump due to the tickling sensation.

"Stop that." growled the demon. Pinkie giggled and pressed again. And again. And again. Noxfero growled and pinned the point of his arrow-shaped tail into her flank, causing her to laughter.


	11. Kindness

He was running down the dark street.

He was running, while from the sides of the street he could hear mocking, distorted voices. He tried to open his wings, but he had no wings. He tried to summon his powers, but nothing happened. He could only run, while hearing the sound of his predator drawing nearer and nearer.

He looked behind: an enormous truck was roaring towards him, bearing down the black street. He tried to run again, but his feet were glued to the ground. The truck darted towards him as an enormous mouth opened in it, regurgiting flames and demonic shapes.

-oOo-

Noxfero's eyes opened, as the devil gasped for air. He looked around. He was on his branch. No trucks. He breathed slowly, looking at the scratch marks that his claws had left on the wood. The second thing he noticed was that he was completly wet: rain was falling furiously, accompaniaed by an occasional strike of lightning and thunder.

"I'm not supposed to have nightmares… not during such a wonderful downpour…" muttered the devil. He looked at Jaco, who was snoring loudly in a hole of the tree. The devil just huffed and jumped from the branch: if he was awake, he wasn't going to sleep again. Even if it was something like two in the morning.

He moved the wet hair away from his face, and began walking. If he had to wait for time to pass, it was better to pass it moving.

"It's been a long time since I walked in the rain… real rain, not blood or fire rain…" muttered the devil to himself. The cold wasn't a problem. Devils usually couldn't feel exterior stimuli, if they chose not to.

He walked slowly, enjoying the dripping sound of the rain. Gloomy and relaxing. "Like me." Thought the demon, as he entered Ponyville, the buildings dark and full of sleeping ponies. He just slid between the shadows. He didn't want to wake anyone and cause a ruckus

He raised his ears, listening at the faint sound of sleeping ponies. So calm. He growled. Then his ear twitched: was that a whimper what he was hearing? He slid between the buildings, curious, ending up in front of Sugarcube Corner. The devil raised an eyebrow.

The whimper was coming from the highest floor of the building. He could hear two [sets of quiet breathing on the second floor as well as two louder sets: the Cakes and their sons. So that meant that the whimpering one was…

"Yeah, sure… as if the the most cheerful and happy creature that I've ever met could cry about something." Snickered the devil. He opened his wings and flapped them, flying towards the higher window of the shop, landing on the sill and grabbing the frame with his claws, looking inside with his narrow gaze: she had probably invited some of her thousands of friends.

He glanced inside: for all he could see clearly, there was only the shape of the pink mare in her bed, tossing and turning in her bed. Noxfero blinked. That was unexpected. He waved a hand, and a black clawed hand materialized from the darkness inside the room, opening the window from inside. The devil slid in, closing it behind him.

He walked silently towards the bed, licking his lips: nightmares were a good source of nourishment, since he learned the Nightmare's way of feeding. He leaned over the mare, ready to prolong her nightmare and feast on it. But he didn't do it.

He looked at the struggling mare. "She's having a bad dream… I can't be such an ass… What the hell am I thinking? Of course I can!" he thought, but again, he didn't move.

Suddenly the mare opened her eyes, sitting abruptly on the bed, shouting in fear and startling the devil. She put her hooves to her eyes and began crying. She probably hadn't even noticed Noxfero, nor his cursing when he fell to the ground.

The devil stood up, and looked at the mare: she was still crying. "Come on, it was only a nightmare…" he thought to himself. The devil was unsure whether he should cough or tap her shoulder to announce his presence, but looking at the whimpering mare destroyed his mocking intentions.

The devil just leaned over the bed and awkwardly patted the head of the mare. Pinkie raised her watery eyes and looked at the demon, and hugged his chest while whimpering. The demon's scarlet eyes widened, before he started to growl. The mare continued to hug him, crying.

The devil sighed, pulling off his wet raincoat and sitting on the bed, leaning on the pillow, still patting Pinkie's head.

"Why the hell am I doing this?" he asked himself, while passing his black nails through the mare's tangled pink mane. "Well, of course, if I don't calm her down, she could call for the Cakes… and if they catch me here, it could turn very bad for me." He answered to himself. Yep, that was a good explanation.

"Calm down Pinkie… that was only a bad dream, wasn't it?" hushed the devil, blinking in surprise by his own tone.

The mare sniffed, before raising her eyes in the darkness. "Noxy…?"

"That's my nick-name." Snickered the devil.

"It was so real! Canterlot was on fire! There were ponies running everywhere, there were monsters made of fire burning all around. And… and I and the others were surrounded by flames, and there was a dark tall figure with a pitchfork, and he killed the others… it was so…" she blabbered, before tearing up a little more.

"Ssssh… it was only a bad dream." Huseed the demon patiently.

"But it was so real!" replied the mare, pressing her muzzle against the demon's chest. He waved his ears in discomfort, looking around: he noted the immobile silhouette of Pinkie's creepy alligator pet. The devil nodded, and a long tentacle of darkness grabbed the little reptile, lifting it and carrying him towards the bed, and Noxfero grabbed him and passed it to the mare. Pinkie grabbed the alligator and hugged him, without moving away from the demon.

"That doesn't mean it WAS real." Said the devil. "Although, I don't know why you 'd dream something like that in a happy place like this. Must be my influence." The mare giggled a little, sniffing.

"Just try to sleep. You'll see, tomorrow you won't even remember your dream." said the devil, beginning to stand up.

"Where are you going?" asked Pinkie in a scared voice, as the devil's chest slid away from under her muzzle.

"Uh… away? I'll let you sleep."

Thunder boomed outside. "Could you please stay here…? Until I get to sleep again…?" asked the mare. Noxfero groaned. This whole situation was making him feel uneasy. But after all, inside it wasn't wet, so that was a good reason for staying with her.

The demon laid down again on the bed, allowing Pinkie to lay her head on him. He looked at ceiling, bored. He didn't even noticed that he had started to stroke the mare's flank. Gummy just blinked.

Another peal of thunder boomed, and the mare flinched, emitting a low whimper. Noxfero raised an eyebrow. "Are you scared of thunder too now?" he asked, looking at the mare.

"Well…sometimes…when I'm allready scared…" whimpered the mare, squeezing the little alligator. It just blinked.

"That's just stupid. It's just a vibration of the air caused by…something… but it's just a vibration of the air. Nothing scary." Stated the devil.

"Well…uh…it's scary anyway! You get never scared by thunder?"

"Nope. Actually, I love storms. Always, even when I was alive, I've never been scared." He said proudly.

"You aren't scared of anything?" asked the mare, looking at him in the darkness.

"What do I have to be scared of? I'm an immortal being, king of my floor of Hell. I don't have reason to fear anything. Except my boss, but he hardly ever gets so angry that he becomes scary."

"And when you were alive? You weren't scared of anything either?"

The confident grin on the demon's face faded away, replaced by a frown. "Yes… I was scared, by a lot of things. Like all mortals." He whispered, closing his eyes.

"I was scared of being alone, for example. I never had very many friends, timid as I was, at the time. So I convinced myself that I was fine alone, pushing away whoever tried to befriend me. That's why Jaco was my greatest friend: he never left me, not even when I treated him like garbage."

The mare rested silently, closing her eyes, listening to the low voice of the devil. Gummy just blinked.

"I was scared for my future. I was scared of my mother. I was scared of an awful lot of things. I was a pathetic little mortal, indeed. Without a purpose in life. Or saying it clearer, I never searched for it. Too lazy and stupid." Growled Noxfero, patting the mare and sinking his head in the pillow. Pinkie said nothing, nuzzling the devil a little.

"And how did you stop being scared?"

"I killed myself." Answered the demon simply.

The mare froze. The demon felt her muscles stiffen under his hand.

"You did what?" she whispered, looking at the devil.

"I didn't have anything to live for." Shrugged the devil. "I simply threw myself under a truck , a heavy and fast-moving metallic cube, to put it simply, that killed me in a second. Last time I was scared-" he fell silent, when the hoof of the mare slapped his face.

"There is always something to live for!" Pinkie said angrily, looking up into his eyes through the darkness. Noxfero looked at her, confused. Gummy just blinked. Then she hugged him, pressing her face on his neck, covering part of his face with her messy mane. Noxfero tried to move away, suffocated by the smell of cotton candy, kindness and compassion. Then he noticed that the mare was snoring.

He tried to get free from her embrace, but to no avail. He yawned, scratching Pinkie's nape, resigned. "You surely are a peculiar soul, Pinkie Pie…" he murmured, feeling his eyelids growing heavier. Gummy just blinked, before closing his eyes and beginning to snore.

-oOo-

"What the hay did you think you were doing!" shouted . Pinkie opened her eyes, yawning, greeted by the image of and Noxfero arguing.

"I was passed out here last night after feeding on her nightmares, geez! It's not a big deal!" growled Noxfero, grabbing his raincoat and putting it on.

"If you try to lay one of you hands on her…"

"Woah, what's that, a threat? Take a chill pill, granny, you aren't her mother!"

"I may as well be!" shouted the azure mare.

"Woah calm down! Noxy didn't do anything, he just slept here last night, and he just ma-"

"I just feasted on her nightmares, nothing more, nothing less!" Noxfero interrupted the mare. Pinkie looked at him, raising an eyebrow, before moving her eyes on again.

"Yup. Just feasted on my nightmares."

The mature earth pony looked at them both, before huffing. "I believe you Pinkie… so I believe you too Noxfero… but remember… I'm keeping an eye on you." The devil shrugged. "Come on you two, there is breakfast for you Pinkie, and baking for you both." Said the mare, walking out of the room.

After she left, Pinkie turned towards Noxfero, with a slight frown on her face. "I don't like to lie to the Cakes. I mean, they lied to me about my surprise birthday party two years ago, but that's not a good reason to-"

"Pinkie!" Whispered Noxfero, cutting her off. "You have to promise me that you will never, EVER, tell anyone what I told you last night." The devil looked in the blue eyes of Pinkie with his own vertical pupils.

"Ok Noxy. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!" exclaimed Pinkie, mimicking the actions with her hooves. The devil blinked. "Now I'll not tell to anypony what you said to me!" she cheered.

Noxfero just blinked again, before heading for the stairs. "Whatever you say, Pinkie. Whatever you say…"


	12. Honesty

"I thought you liked snow." Stated Noxfero, looking at his minion.

"I love the snow. I just don't like when the snow is at level with my neck!" burst out Jaco, struggling for moving in the compact white mass of snow. The lastweek had been full of a silent downpour of snowflakes, especially at night, filling little by little all the surrounding area of Ponyville.

"Well… after all, I suppose it's the beginning of winter, isn't it? It's just a normal part of the season, after all."

"Not so normal if the pegasi are making the snow and all." stated Jaco, swimming through the white blanket, following the bigger demon towards the town. "And anyway, I'm freezing! I'm not like you Noxy! Can I have a sweater?" asked the little demon, raising his eyes.

"Mh… nah… I got a better idea…"

-oOo-

"Here, the last apples of this season Pinkie. Just make sure you use them for some amazing cake."

"Of course silly, what else would I use them for?" giggled the pink mare, looking at the wagon full of shiny apples that the orange earth pony have managed to pull from her farm all the way to the bakery.

"As soon as Noxy and Jaco arrive, we'll get to work immediately." Stated Pinkie, opening the bakery's backdoor and helping Applejack to offload the apples.

"By the way, ain't he tardy? Usually he's already here by the time Ah'm delivering the apples." Stated Applejack, while passing some crates of applesto Pinkie. The pink mare shrugged. Then their gazes were both drawn by the screaming shape of Jaco, engulfed in flames, ran down the middle of the street, leaving a wake of melted snow behind him.

"That's your doing, ain't it?" asked the orange mare to the bigger demon, as he landed silently near them with a weak flap of his wings.

"Me? Why me?" asked the devil in an innocent voice, smirking deviously.

"It's ok, It's ok, the snow put out the fire!" chirped Jaco, jumping over them with most of his head covered in ash, his long hair reduced to a charred mass. Noxfero pointed a finger innocently towards the little devil, looking at Applejack. The mare just huffed, taking another crate and pushing it inside the bakery. Noxfero grinned as a quick stream of flames darted out from his hand, once more igniting Jaco's head.

Whistling happily, the devil entered the bakery, where Pinkie was giving a pile of golden coins to the orange mare.

"Thank ya Pinkie. See you tonight then?"

"Of course. Have a good day Applejack." Chirped the mare, waving as the other mare left through the door, while outside the screams of Jaco filled the air.

"So…" began Noxfero, grabbing an apple with his tail. "What are we going to do today?" he asked, before gulping down the whole apple.

"Well, you have to do your daily routine. I'll have to prepare some more sweets for tonight." Exclaimed the mare, putting the apples in their place.

"What's the occasion? One of your crazy parties? Because if that's the case, I won't came." Stated the devil, grabbing a pack of flour, while some tentacles of shadow grabbed a bowl.

"You always say that, but at the end you are always there." Giggled the mare, while the devil huffed, grumbling something. Indeed, even being a grumpy and asocial creature, he was more or less present, always hiding in a corner or hanging from the ceiling, 'feeding on the sins', as he said. The mare giggled to herself. Almost three months had passed since the two devils had arrived in town, and, despite everything that he said, Noxfero was settling in well. She thought about the night of the nightmare, almost a month before now. She smiled to herself, but then blinked when she noticed the tail of the devil waving in front of her eyes.

"Nox to Pinkie, Nox to Pinkie. Are you still with us or you have finally lost your head?" asked the devil, looking at the mare with an eyebrow raised.

"Sorry Noxy, I was thinking."

"That's a new one." Growled the devil, while three shadow-hands mixed the flour in front of him. "I was asking, what's the occasion, then?"

"Oh. We are having a slumber party in Applejack's barn tonight." Answered the mare, returning her attention to the apples. The devil blinked.

"A slumber party? You and your friends? Alone in a barn?"

"Uuuh… yes?" answered the mare, looking at the devil with a questioning expression. Noxfero smiled with glee, his eyes shimmering.

-oOo-

"Yay! Despite my burning head, we managed to be quicker then usual with our deliveries!" cheered Jaco, waving his charred hands in the air. "What are we going to do for the rest of the day? Something that implies my physical suffering?"

"Nope!"

Jaco turned his head, raising an eyebrow "No?"

"I have to stay awake tonight. So, I'm going to sleep for the rest of the day." Stated the bigger devil, falling back on the white carpet of snow. Jaco walked over to him, standing on his chest and looking down into his eyes.

"I know I'm going to regret this, but why do you have to stay awake tonight?" he asked, with a resigned expression.

"Slumber party."

"Slumber party…?" repeated Jaco, raising his eyebrow even more.

"The six mares. They're going to have a slumber party."

Jaco blinked. "Oh. And they invited us?"

Noxfero groaned. "Of course not. I have to sneak in."

Jaco raised an eyebrow again "And why do you have to sneak in…?"

"Slumber party Jac! Female slumber party! Hello?" exclaimed Noxfero, grabbing the minion with his tail and lifting him into the air. "And as you know, female slumber parties always lead to a final mass lesbian intercourse, with plenty of tasty lust for me to eat, and a fine show for my eyes."

Jaco raised his eyebrow so hish that it actually fell off his face, landing with a soft sound in the snow. "Ok. First of all, you know better than me that that never happens during a female slumber party. And also, they are ponies. Little horses. You are the one that said that first!"

Noxfero raised his face, pressing it against Jaco's. "Lesbian intercourse ais good anyway. And they are less… equine that the ones in our mortal world."

"Oh, what now, do they turn you on?" huffed the little devil, crossing his arms. "I really hoped you could control yourself a little longer."

"They don't 'turn me on'." growled the devil, glaring at his minion. "I just consider it a fine entartainment to see females pleasuring each other, despite the race. And also, lust is one of the tastiest of the seven sins. You know that."

"Yeah… but anyway, it's never going to happen. Never in our mortal world did any slumber party end in a hot orgy full of...why the hell am I still trying to convince you anyway?" asked Jaco, sighing. Noxfero purred, tossing Jaco away.

"That's right. So, wake me up in five hours or so." He ordered, covering himself with a blanket of snow. Jaco grumbled something, putting his hand in the snow and retrieving his eyebrow, putting it back on before walking away.

-oOo-

Noxfero gasped loudly as a couple of hooves pressed suddenly and firmly on his chest, waking him from his sleeping state.

"Oh, thank Celestia you are awake! You were under the snow, and like, you weren't breathing! I was worried you were dead or something!" exclaimed a stumbling voice. The devil opened his eyes, gazing around: it was late afternoon, and over him, standing on his chest, there were a gray pegasus with a blonde mane, and two derping golden eyes looking worriedly at him. Maybe. He couldn't tell that.

"I was just sleeping… I apparentlyforgot to breathe." Growled the demon, raising himslef into a sitting position, forcing the mare to jump of off him. He looked again at the mare: she had a stream of bubbles printed on her butt. He had seen her around the town, sometimes, but never really talked to her. He didn't even have to give to her any deliveries. Apparently she was one of the few that served herself directly at the bakery.

"Are you Noxfero?" asked themare, tilting her head a little, probably so she could look directly at him. At least, with one of her eyes.

"Gosh, I don't know. I'm sure that there are a lot of devils and demons you can confuse each other with, here." Noxfero growled sacastically, glaring at the mare. She just giggled.

"Ok, you are right, my bad. And you are excctly like my little muffin described you, so I was sure from the beginning. But better safe than sorry, right?"

Noxfero blinked. Wonderful, now he had met the crazy mare that talked with muffins. What next? The horse that whispered to men? "What do you want?" asked the devil cautiously, keeping his eyes focused on the mare. Never know what a crazy horse can do.

"I've got this letter for you!" she cheered, taking a little letter from the saddlebag she was wearing.

"Did the muffin send that?" asked Noxfero, grabbing the letter and looking at it. The mare giggled again.

"Why would my little Dinky send a letter to you? She can tell you things directly." Said the gray mare, smiling. Noxfero blinked.

"You are talking about Dinky Doo…?" the devil asked carefully. The mare nodded happily.

"My little muffin, as I call her." said her with a smile. "She is my daughter you know?"

"Good for you two then." Said the devil dismissively, looking at the letter.

"Oh, it's a royal invitation! I can see from the sigil!" exclaimed happily the mare, pointing her hoof. Noxfero glared at her, before turning his attention to the letter again. It was indeed an invitation, signed by Celestia herself. For some play for Heart's Warming Eve. Noxfero didn't have the slightest idea of what that was.

"Oh, it's the play in Canterlot! I was there for last year's. But behind the scenes." Exclaimed the mare, who had managed to sneak behind the demon, reading the letter over his shoulder. "Last year had the bearers of the elements playing the main roles. This year our theater company got the chance too! It's a big honor for all of us. My little muffin was so proud of me." Declared the mare. The devil blinked, trying to use his body language to say how much he didn't care about all of that.

"Are you coming then?" asked the mare, suddenly turning her head and pressing her muzzle against the devil's nose. Noxfero gulped, trying to look into the derping eyes of the mare. He just nodded slightly, hoping that was enough. The mare giggled, flying in the air. "Oh goody. It'll be a pleasure to see you there."

"Yeah… sure…" groaned the devil, looking at the mare. She just nodded, rising a little bit higher into the air.

"Ah, by the way, my name is Ditzy Doo. Friends call me Derpy though. I wonder why…" she tapped her chin, gazing with a questioning look to something (Noxfero couldn't say what), then just shrugged. "I got some more mail to deliver. See you around." She said, smiling, before flying backwards toward the town, rolling in the air in a zig-zag pattern.

Noxfero blinked, then just fell again in the snow, pushig the letter in one of his pockets. "Ponies…" he muttered, before closing his eyes.

-oOo-

The air was freezing. The devil opened his scarlet eyes, looking at the starless sky: only the moon was shining, making the snow glow with a cold and empty shimmer. The devil looked at the silent, perfectly still landscape, before opening his wings.

"Are you really going to go?" asked Jaco, walking on a pair of stilts toward him.

"Of course. Lesbian intercourse , remember?" said the devil, flapping his wings a couple of times, as with a slight sigh, Jaco jumped in one of his pockets.

"Applejack 's barn. An interesting choice, I might say. Surely it's not one of the most temperate places to sleep in." He jumped into the air, flapping his wings lazily, flying towards the outskirtsof Ponyville. The little devil said nothing, while looking at the white sea below them.

"I wonder if they are going to beat you up again." Jaco mused lazily. Noxfero looked at him, growling without answering. With several further flaps of his wings, they were over the Apple's orchard, the trees clothed in snow. Silently, "they landed over the snow-covered roof of the barn, making the snow crunch a little under Noxfero's shoes. Silently, the devil dropped down on all four and began to crawl slowly over the roof top, reaching the edge and beginning to walk like a spider along the side of the building, cloaked in a dense state of darkness. He soon reached a window. He grasped Jaco with his tail, and lowered him in front of the window.

"So? Where are they?"

"Oh my gosh!" exclaimed Jaco, raising his tiny hand to his face. Noxfero darted down his head. The mares were in front of a little fire in the middle of the barn, sitting on a circle of sleeping bags, as Rarity and Fluttershy were styling the others manes. Noxfero turned slowly towards the laughing head of Jaco, who was chuckling like a maniac.

Inside the barn, Rarity sniffed the air, while trying to combout the tangled mess that was Pinkie's mane. "Is it just] me, or does anypony smell something burning? "

"Must be something in the fire." Answered Applejack lazily, while the yellow pegasus combed out her long, blonde mane. Rarity shrugged, before returning to Pinkie's savage mane.

Noxfero tossed away the carbonized body of the little demon, returning to peek inside the barn, trying not to think about how creepy he must look. "Hey Rainbow. You seem a little tense. Do you want a massage?" asked Twilight, leaning over the cyan pegasus, pressing her hooves gently on her back.

"Why, thank you Twi. I'd appreciate that." exclaimed Rainbow Dash, turning her head a little to look at the unicorn mare. Noxfero raised his ears. Twilight leaned over Rainbow, and began massaging her back with her hooves. And nothing sexual happened. Noxfero groaned. After caring for their manes, they lowered the fire and began telling each other ghost stories. Noxfero used the shadows to slipinside the barn, perching on the support beams of the structure.

"And then, when she turned on the bathroom light, she saw, written on the mirror… 'not only dogs can lick hooves." ended Applejack. Fluttershy squeaked and hugged Pinkie suddenly, pressing her muzzle into her pinkmane.

"Calm down Shy, It's just a story." Said the pink mare, patting the pegasus's head gently. Fluttershy raised her head, looking into the turquoise eyes of the earth pony. They gazed to each other. Noxfero looked down, his tail swinging slowly. And nothing sexual happen. The two mares parted from each other smiling, and the devil huffed.

"Ah know what can help you to relax." Exclaimed Applejack, after reviving the fire a little.

"Uh, what?" asked timidly Fluttershy, before a pillow hit her face. And then there was chaos. Noxfero leaned over the axis, looking down, his ears flapping.

"Come on girls, I'm just asking for a little lusty attraction between creatures of the same gender here, come on…" growled the devil, watching as nothing of sexual nature happened below. He huffed angrily, while the mares regain their composure.

"And also, they don't even have boobs. Like, how can you find females smooching each other attractive without boobs!" trilled suddenly Jaco, popping out of nowhere, right in front of Noxfero's face. The demon jumped back, startled, emitting a loud screech. His grasp on the rafter loosened, and the devil fell over, shouting a shower ofblasphemy. He instinctively opened his wings, but the space and the position weren't ideal. His black wings just flapped uselessly, hitting a couple of supports, making the devil roll in the air and sending him falling face-down on the hard floor of the barn.

"Such a lovely composition of soil." he thought sarcastically, while his registered every last inch of pain that the impact produced. He heard the mares walk over to him, worried.

"Is that Noxfero?"

"How in tarnation did he get in mah barn?"

"Do…do you think he might be hurt…?"

"Do you think he is hungry?"

"Hi girls!" chirped Jaco's voice, very close to Noxfero's ear. He darted his hand out, grabbing the little demon's body just under his head, where the neck was supposed to be. He was rewarded by the hacking gasp of the little devil.

"You little piece of scum…" hissed the devil, parting his face from the floor and looking at his minion, while sitting up. "How dare you freak the hell out of me? You little…"

"Noxfero… what are you doing here?" asked Twilight, stepping towards him. The devil moved his eyes to the unicorn, blinking.

"Err… I was just flying, and this little jerk surprised me. I lost concentration and fell down." He answered, smiling awkwardly. Applejack looked up, then looked at the demon.

"Without breaking the roof?" she asked. The devil began to sweat.

"Were you peeping on us?" asked Rarity, stepping closer. The devil gulped, darting his gaze around. He may have regenerated part of his powers, but a beating from six angry ponies was going to hurt anyway.

"Well… yes… but it wasn't my intention! I came in here because it's cold outside. Cold as hell."

"Well, he is right, it is cold…" murmured Fluttershy, looking at th devil through her mane.

"But you always sleep outside! The cold does not do anything to you!" noted Rainbow Dash, darting toward the devil. He just shrugged.

"Tonight it's colder than usual." He said, faking a shiver. The pegasus raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything.

"It's ok Noxfero, if you want you can stay with us." Said Twilight warmly, pointing at the fire. "Just… let Jaco go…" She added, looking worriedly at the minion in Noxfero's grasp. The devil looked at Jaco too: he was smiling like an idiot, even if his face was turning in a nice, dark shade of blue. The devil opened his hand, letting the little devil free.

"Since you are here, partner, do you wanna play some 'truth or dare' with us? It's the only thing missing from our slumber party to be considered a success." Said Twilight happily. The devil huffed, then nodded.

"He will be happy to!" chirped Jaco, jumping suddenly on his feet, smiling. The bigger devil kicked him, slamming him to the other side of the barn.

-oOo-

"Now, the rules are simple: we spin the bottle, and the first pony being pointed it's the one taht or ask or dare the other ponies. While the second one is the one that decide if get the dare or the truth. So, let's peek the bottle… Jaco, why are you here?" asked the mare, smiling, looking down at where Jaco was laying on the ground, in the center of the circle that she and her friends were making.

Jaco just smiled. "I'm a bottle!" he exclaimed happily.

"Go on with it, or he'll never stop trying to convince us that he is indeed a bottle." Sighed the devil, scratching his forehead.

Twilight giggled, then spun Jaco with a flash of her purple magic. Jaco rotated around with an excited squeal, and stopping suddenly pointing with his head at Rainbow Dash.

"Ok, and now, let's see who's the victim…" grinned the mare, spinning the little devil again, who after only a spin, stopped himself and pointed at Noxfero.

"I'm going to make you pay so much for that…" he grumbled, while the mare rubbed her hooves together.

"Ok…let's see… truth or dare?" she asked. The devil tilted his head, before answering:

"Truth."

"Hah! You asked for it! Now you have to tell me the truth! Now tell Noxfero…. Do you have… a special Somepony?"

Fluttershy raised a hoof to her mouth, shocked, while Rarity cleared her throat "Rainbow, that's a private matter, it's unpolite to ask something like that."

"No, I don't." Answered simply the devil, shrugging the question off. "For the simple fact that evil can't love."

"Awww Noxy, don't you remember what the boss said? That thinking that evil can't love is the best way to underestimate it?" said Jaco, still lying on the floor. The devil slapped his minion's face with his tail, before using it to spin the little demon. After another couple of spins, he stopped himself in front of Applejack.

"Ah, mah turn then." Grinned the mare, spinning Jaco. He stopped in front of Noxfero again. "Truth or dare?"

"Truth…"

"Ok… let's see… do you have a family?"

"Not currently, in Hell, except for my son."

The mares gasped. "You got a what now?"

"It's not your turn for a question, is it?" asked the devil, spinning again Jaco with his tail. Jaco rolled, pointing first at Rarity, and after… to Noxfero.

"Now… a son? You? How is that possible…? I mean, no offense, but you don't seem really much a fatherly type." Said the unicorn, looking doubtfully at the devil.

"Rarely, when an archdevil is full with his power, sometimes he becomes able to procreate. Usually,]devils are sterile, since we are...you know, dead. But well, at the end, i ended up with a son. I don't know what's more frustrating: that his mother gave him to me, or that he's two years old, and he's actually more mature than me." Growled the devil, looking everywhere except in the mare's direction. They looked at each other, without knowing what to say.

"You know, I really think that he actually wouldn't hate passing some time with you…" began Jaco, before he was slapped in the face again.

"No one asked for the bottle's opinion." Growled the devil, spinning Jaco again. The little devil rolled again, before pointing first at Fluttershy, then at Noxfero.

-oOo-

"Time to sleep. Noxfero, could you please take Jaco away from the fire?"

"At least, take the ashes out of my mouth!" added the little demon, bound by shadowy strings and hanging in the middle of the campfire. Twilight had already tried to move him away, but the strings were stronger than expected.

"Fine, fine… I'll punish him tomorrow." Growled Noxfero, flicking his hand. With a little pop, the little devil was pushed away from the fire. Noxfero grumbled something, then leaned against the ground, closing his eyes. Than he felt a little pressure against his leg. When he opened his eyes, he saw Fluttershy placing her sleeping bag near him.

"Oh…hum… sorry but… I thought that if you were shivering like before… maybe it's better if somepony sleeps near you, heats you up a bit…" she murmured, looking at the floor. The devil blinked.

"That's a great idea!" chirped Pinkie, and after a second, she placed herself beside the devil. It only took a few more seconds for all the mares to gather around the devil.

"Goodnight everypony!" they exclaimed, before Twilight suffocated the fire with her magic. After a few minutes, the mares were all snoring more or less loudly.

"What the hell just happened?" murmured the devil in the darkness. He could feel the heat of the mares stream around him, and hear their soft breathing. He was tempted to stand up and fly away, but after a few seconds, the instinct disappeared. He turned, feeling the soft, perfumed mane of Pinkie Pie under his cheek, with the overwhelming smell of cotton candy. He curled up, pressing his face against the sweet mane.

"Better the mane than no pillow at all…" he whispered to himself.

Jaco walked silently towards him, climbing onto his body and leaning there."Oh Noxy… you can never be honest neither with yourself…" he muttered, yawning.

-oOo-

"What do you mean you can't do that?" exclaimed Junior, watching at a skeleton draped in a black cloak lowered his scythe, looking sorrowfully at the little demon.

"I'm sorry mon, but even my scythe has limits." He said with a strong Jamaican accent, pointing at his scythe.

"For darkness's sake Grim, you are the fucking grim reaper! Your powers rival even that of the most powerful archdevil!"

"Still, I am also slave to a couple of children. " the skeleton muttered, before answering the young devil: "I am sorry, kid, but apparently your dad be somewhere where the dead got no power... or the realm be governed by different laws. A world of zombies, maybe! "

"Fuck!" roared Junior, hitting the wall of the dungeon, cracking it.

"Now, calm down Junior. I'm worried for your dad, just like you. He's a good friend of mine, after all. But seriously, I can't do nothing about it." Stated the skeleton, leaning over the little, panting figure, and putting a skeletal hand on his shoulder in what he hoped was a comforting gesture. The little devil hissed faintly.

"Grim, are you good at mental traveling?" he asked, raising his eyes.

"If you mean can I open a portal to the realm of the mind, yeah, ain't nothing. I already done that, if I ain't mistaken."

"Good. Take Mandy and Billy and bring them here. We have to travel into someone's brain to recall the way to build the portal." Stated the little devil.

"Are they necessary?" asked the skeleton, huffing. The devil just glared at him, before walking away slowly.

"Four is better than two. And I trust more them more that my dad's servants, or any other devil, for that matter."

"Ain't somethin' I can say no to, can I mon?" huffed the grim reaper Where're we goin'? Mad criminal's mind? Evil lord's? Dragon's?"

The little devil looked at him with his everlasting frown on his face, even if he seemed to emit a soft sound like a chuckle. "Scarecrow."


	13. Heart Warming Eve

"Now then, remember: no shadow hands, tentacles, monsters or illusions as long as we are in Canterlot. Understood?" the purple unicorn asked the bored demon again, while they and the rest of their friends were walking towards the train station.

The devil groaned, rolling his eyes. "You told me ten times already. And I promise you that I'm not going to do anything."

"You didn't just promis, you Pinkie Promised!" exclaimed Pinkie, jumping at their side. "You can't break a Pinkie Promise." She added, smiling at the pair. Twilight seemed to be a little relieved, while Noxfero just groaned again.

"Anyway, we have some business to attend before the play. so-" Rarity began, before she was cut off by the devil.

"…So, why shoud I care?"

"…So, we managed to get you a spot with Cheerilee and her class, while waiting for the right time."

"What am I? some sort of baby to you? I don't need a babysitter!"

"It's just to guide you around the town, to wai for the proper time. I know you have already visited the city during our last visit, but maybe a guided trip could be more interesting, could it?" Twilight answered, looking patiently at the demon.

"Yes, maybe you could just enjoy a trip in a snowy town just for its beauty, instead of for its sins!" exclaimed Jaco, jumping off Rainbow's back and landing on the devil's head. Noxfero just shrugged, grabbing an ice stalagmite and stabbing it into his minion's face. The mares only jumped slightly, used by now to the responses of the bigger devil towards Jaco.

"I just don't get why more than half of Ponyville is going to Canterlot. It's just bad to see the same faces over and over, but to see them even during a trip…"

"The playing company is Ponyville's, so it's normal that a great part of the city bought the tickets for Canterlot's play." answered Twilight again, slightly annoyed. Noxfero just mumbled something angrily while walking. Pinkie Pie just giggled and walked on, followed by Twilight.

"Noxhy, I ot a phobem!" groaned Jaco's voice from behind him: the ice shard was still stabbed in his face, his oversized tongue glued to the ice. Noxfero groaned.

-oOo-

"Thanks for helping me with the foals Noxfero, I sure really appreciate that." said the smiling purple earth pony, looking warmly at the devil on the other side of the train, were Noxfero was fuming, while all around of the wagon, foals were running, screaming, and basically being noisy as hell.

"It's not exactly my idea…" he grumbled, looking out of the window. He didn't know why, but he would have preferred to stay with the other six mares.

"Well, I appreciate it anyway. Sometimes it's hard to lead so many foals around a big city like Canterlot. They are so happy. And to be completely honest, I'm pretty excited to. My sister is in the play."

"Oh yeah?" asked Noxfero with an I-don't-care-a-fucking-bit look.

"Yes, one of the main roles, too. My little nephew is so proud!" she said, smiling to the devil while pointing to a purple-pinkish unicorn filly that was playing with Dinky Doo and another couple of foals. The devil just nodded, sighing. As Jaco had reminded him, this festivity was Equestria's version of Christmas, and he was not in the mood for some stupid play on love and tolerance.

Sure, in Hell, Christmas was one of the greatest holidays, since thanks to it]humans began to fall into Hell like rain, but at the end of the thing, it was still the birthday of the son of the concurrence.

"Don't worry, it'll be an interesting trip for you too. I'm sure of that." said the mare happily, smiling again. "Now… where is your friend? I was sure he was coming with us."

Noxfero looked around. Indeed, there was no signs of the presence of his minion. The devil just shrugged, huffing again: it was going to be a boring day.

-oOo-

The train arrived in perfect time at the Canterlot station, giving Cheerilee, the foals, and the bored devil the chance to make a little trip into the historical part of Canterlot. As Noxfero had expected, it was extremely boring for him to try to follow all the stories that the happy teacher was explaining. He just stayed at the back of the line, slurping the negative emotions flowing between the cutie mark crusaders and that Diamond Tiara.

He just tried to enjoy the cold in the air, the snow and the warm feelings of hate that the fillies were emitting in the air.

"Girls, could you please quit your fighting?" asked suddenly Cheerilee, stopping and turning towards the little fillies. "We are here to pass time as friends, in this nice period of the year! So, stop your senseless arguing at once!" she scolded, looking with a frown at the four fillies.

"We are sorry, miss Cheerilee…" they all said, even if it was all too evident to the devil that the pink earth pony with the tiara wasn't sincere in the slightest. Noxfero just grinned to himself.

"Now, we have still an hour before the play.. you are free to walk around in this park. Just be careful, and don't run off. All of you, return here in time, and don't run too far away, clear?"

All the little foals nodded, before running off in different directions. Cheerilee huffed, before turning towards the devil. "You too, if you want. Just don't go too far away."

"How many times do I have to tell all of you? I'm not a baby. I can survive on my own." The devil huffed, before opening his wings and darting into the snowy sky. After ten minutes, he was already bored. Feasting on sins wasn't giving him any pleasure. He landed quietly a good distance from where Cheerilee was sitting, to avoid giving the impression he didn't know what to do.

He began walking slowly through the park, that was…well…huge. Probably even bigger than his garden in hell. The devil passed slowly along the soft snowy carpet, sometimes licking the air to grab a tasty sin.

He walked for at least twenty minutes, following the bushes and the trees, as he permitted his mind to wander around, without knowing where to go. Until, finally his ears darted up: little voices were arguing and fighting. He waved his ears around, as the smell of ire and pride flew towards his nose. "That's something tasty…" he murmured, licking his lips: ire was a good sin, even if a little spicy, and with the addition of pride, was just an amazing meal. He walked rapidly, following the smell, untill he finally reached a bush, that he used as a cover, while on the other side, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were just laughing and mocking Dinky Doo and a purple-pinkish unicorn filly.

"I can hardly BELIEVE that thay permitted that idiot of your mother to play a part. They are not afraid she'll begin slamming around, destroying all the setting?" asked the pink filly, with an evil smirk on her muzzle.

"She is not an idiot! Take it back!" cried Dinky, tears forming in her big, golden eyes. Noxfero growled slowly.

"Leave her alone Diamond Tiara! Don't you have something else to do?" asked the other unicorn filly, standing in front of Dinky with an angry frown on her muzzle.

"And what do you want? Standing up for her clumsy mother? Why don't you worry about your mother? I suppose she will hardly be sober for the play. Maybe we'll see her puke on the stage?" Diamond Tiara mocked, laughing cruelly as the other filly's eyes widened. She and Silver Spoon just laughed, before they were abruptly raised into the air, held up by their tails.

"I usually appreciate a good argument. But bulling someone that can't defend herself it's just boring." Hissed the devil, holding the two fillies in the air. "And usually I can't stand bullies, if I'm not the one bullyng around. So, I'll just give you ten seconds to disappear from my field of view, or you'll be sorry." He said, before dropping the pair in the snow.

"What do you think you are doing? Do you have the slightest idea of who I am!?" growled Diamond Tiara, standing up and brushing some snow from her muzzle.

"Ten…" counted slowly the devil, with a bored expression on his face.

"I'm the daughter of one of the most influential and wealthy pony in all Ponyville!"

"Nine…."

"He can beat your flank off if he knows that you threatened me!"

"Eight…"

"Diamond Tiara…" murmured worringly Silver Spoon, walking slowly backwards.

"And another thing: I'm not bullying, I'm just telling the truth. So, eother you are stupid, or you are just sympathetic with failures. Like you, basically!" mocked the pink filly.

"Seven six five four three two one zero!" growled Noxfero, stepping suddenly towards the filly: with a blast of snow an enormous, shadowy black dragon head darted out from beneath the snow, roaring in the face of Diamond Tiara. The filly screamed and darted off, following Silver Spoon, who was already running away, both failing to notice that the head was already vanishing.

"Little cunt…" growled Noxfero, before turning towards the two unicorn fillies: they were both sitting on the snow, apparently unimpressed by the shadow dragon's head. They were both crying softly, the streams of tears freezing on their cheeks. Noxfero just gulped: he didn't have the slightes idea of what to do… Junior never cried. What was he supposed to do with crying babies?

-oOo-

"Thanks for the hot chocolate Noxfero." Said Dinky, smiling, while looking at the cup filled with fuming hot chocolate, as she sat in a comfortable chair in a crowded cafe. The other filly nodded happily, while sipping a little bit from her cup.

"Whatever… a friend of mine says that chocolate it's the solution to every distressful problem, from depression to sadness… iven if he is the archdevil of gluttony, so for him every food has this function." Said Noxfero, while rocking on his chair.

The two fillies giggled, while the ponies passing in the shop looked with a surprised expression to the devil buying their donuts fast as they could, before leaving quickly. The shop owner, a big cream coated unicorn with a brown mane and a donut cutie mark had just given a quick glance to the devil when he walked in with two crying fillies, before giving him two big cups of hot chocolate. When you had one of the most powerful unicorns in Equestria as an occasional client, you began to not be impressed by anything.

"Why were those two with you two anyway?" asked the devil.

"I don't know. Just because they saw us. Isn't that right, Ruby Pinch?" said Dinky, looking at the other filly, who just nodded, still drinking her chocolate.

"She has to be out of ideas, to insult someone's mother." Said the devil. "Just because your mom is a little clumsy doesn't mean she is too stupid to know how to act. And she is a nice and sweet mare, from waht I can tell." Said the devil, before turning his head and repressing the istinct to gag. That wasn't like him, comforting some little crybaby. But it was better if Cheerilee found them happy, instead of crying, leading her to think that the devil could have done something to them. And also because he didn't like to see the two fillies cry.

"Who said that?" growled the devil, raising his ears and looking around with his fangs bared, scaring off a pair of customers.

"She was probably right about my mother, though…" grumbled Ruby Pinch darkly, lowering her cup. "She'll probably be drunk."

"Come on now Ruby, I'm sure she'll be ok." Dinky exclaimed, trying to cheer her up. Ruby just groaned.

"It will be hard, for Berry Punch, 'the drunkard of Ponyville.'" said angrily the filly, before slamming her muzzle on the table.

"Berry Punch? Oh, I know who she is! She woke me up a couple of time with her singing at two in the morning." Exclaimed Noxfero. Ruby groaned in consent.

"She'll already be attached to the bottle by now…" she murmured. "I know your mommy and Colgate will try to stop her, but you know how she is, Dinky…" she murmured, moving her eyes to the other filly. "it will be painful to see her in such a state… she could ruin the play."

The devil looked at her. "Then why don't you stop her?"

"We can't go backstage, aunt Cheerilee told me…"

Noxfero blinked, before turning towards his shadow: with a gushing sound, a big, fat raven emerged from the shadow, looking at him with its black eyes. "Go to Cheerilee. Tell her I hae these two, and that we are going to meet at the theatre when it's time." The devil ordered. The raven nodded, before opening its wings and flew through the semi open door, disappearing into the sky.

"What? Why? Where are we going?" Asked Dinky, while the devil rose up from his chair and grabbed the two fillies, walking towards the exit.

"We are going to the theatre."

"But you heard Ruby! There is no way that we can get in! It's prohibited for the ones who aren't part of the staff!" exclaimed Dinky, looking the devil. He turned his eyes down, with a compassionate look in his eyes.

"Dinky, do you really believe I'm one to follow the rules?"

-oOo-

"You could have told me that the theater was inside the castle." Grunted the devil, looking at the gigantic palace in front of him.

"We told you!" exclaimed Ruby Pinch, pocking her head out of thr pocket where she had been placed. The demon huffed before jumping over the fence and walking towards the little wooden entrance. A big, white unicorn stallion walked towards him with a frown on his face.

"Excuse me…err… sir… but you are not allowed to enter here." He said, trying to mantain his impassive behavior in front of the strange creature. "It's just the entrance for the backstage."

"Oh… ok, I understand guard… I wanted just to… oh my goodness! What's that?!" exclaimed the devil, pointing his finger past the stallion, that just blinked.

"Honestly sir, do you really believe I would fall for that?" he asked, with a slightly annoyed tone.

"Hum… yeah, that was silly…." Mumbled the devil. Then he punched the stallion's face, smashing him on the ground, unconcious.

"Why did you do that?!" asked Dinky, looking with shock at the unicorn's body.

"Well, we can enter now, can't we?" said the devil, grabbing the big stallion's body and hiding it in a snowy bush of roses. "Leave this things to me, I'm a professional." He added, before walking towards the door and putting the top of his pointed tail in the lock. After a couple of seconds, the door was open.

-oOo-

"How did you get in, muffin?" asked Ditzy Doo, looking at her daughter, who smiled in return.

"Noxfero helped us!" she explained, pointing at the devil, who was sniffing at a chest full of costumes. The gray pegasus blinked, than moved her mismatched eyes to Ruby Pinch, that was looking around for her mother.

"Mostly we are here for Ruby's mom though." Added the gray filly with a slight frown.

"Berry? I think she is checking her lines with Bon Bon." Said an aquamarine colored unicorn mare, who Noxfero had learned was named Lyra. He clearly remembered her, since she was obsessed with the devil's hands.

"And is she ok…? I mean, she didn't drink, or anything…?" asked doubtfully Ruby, looking around. Lyra smiled.

"You should have more faith in your mother, Ruby." She said with a smile.

"On stage in two minutes." Said a brown earth pony with an hourglass cutie mark.

"You'd better be going, muffin." Said Ditzy, nuzzling her daughter's nose. "Sit where I can see you! You'll be so proud of your mommy."

Ditzy smiled, before jumping again into the devil's poket. Noxfero just made a gagging motion, before grasping Ruby Pinch and sliding into the shadows, searching for an exit.

-oOo-

Noxfero sat on the ground, watching as on the stage the brown stallion walked in, beginning to narrate the story. The devil huffed, looking with boredom at the stage, while on his sides, the two fillies were tilting their heads, trying to look at the stage.

"I can't see anything!" whispered Dinky. "Why did this mare have to put on such an absurd hat?" Noxfero snickered, before grabbing her and Ruby and placing them on his shoulders.

"Better?"

The fillies blinked and nodded, smiling.

"…the daughter of the king of the unicorns, Princess Platinum." Announced the stallion, as Lyra walked on stage in an elegant purple dress.

"The leader of the pegasi, Commander Hurricane." Said the stallion, and a yellow pegasus with a turquoise mane, that Noxfero vaguely remembered was named Raindrops, flew on stage, her body closed in a fake armor.

"And the leader of the earth pony, Chancellor Puddinghead." And Bon Bon, the cream coated earth pony that Noxfero learned was Lyra's marefriend walked on stage, in a simple dress.

"This is boring." He hissed. "How is a blizzard interesting as an enemy in a story?"

-oOo-

"So, let me get this straight: Lyra and Colgate are the leaders of the unicorns, and want a place near the mountains, with all the gems and stuff. Raindrops and Ditzy are the pegasi and just want to stay in the sky, and Bon Bon and Berry Punch just want to stay on the ground. So why do they have to fight for the land, if they want to live where the other races don't want to live?" murmured Noxfero, watching as the characters began to fight each other for the land.

"Well…uh…"

"And also, if the food could only be grown by the earth ponies, how are the other races supposed to survive? And how are the earth ponies supposed to make plants grow, without the rain brought by the pegasi? And without the night-day cycle?"

"Just follow the story!" hissed Dinky, tapping her little hoof on the devil's head.

-oOo-

"Ok, those are not wendigo!" said the devil, as the ghostly horses were circuling above Ditzy, Berry and Colgate. "They are undead humanoid reindeer! Not those two-legged pale horses!"

"Well… hush!" ordered Ruby.

The devil grumbled but didn't say anything else until the end of the play, still looking bored at all the final scenes, and finally, the play was over. "At the end, just a play of good feelings and love and tolerance and all that." he grumbled, putting down the pair of fillies. He walked into the shadows, avoiding the crowd and darting out of the building, slamming the door behind him.

"Nothing has a happy end." He hissed, walking through the snow. He was bored, and angry to have wasted all his day with a stupid play about friendship! He growled, walking angrily through the empty garden, kicking some bushes.

"It's not a nice to destroy other ponies's propriety." Said a calm voice behind him. He turned, hissing: the majestic white alicorn with a long, flowing mane that was Princess Celestia was smiling at him from the other side of the street.

"Do you want to take a short walk with me?" Celestia asked, smiling amiabily to the devil. Noxfero darted his eyes around, searching for an escape route. Then he just sighed, and walked towards the alicorn.

"I suppose I don't have much of a choice." He finally answered. "My distraction device has disappeared." Celestia chuckled.

"If you mean Jaco, he's at the castle with my sister." She said, beginning to walk through the snow, alongside the devil. "It's not a common thing for us to have someone who is completely crazy even around us, without a care for the fact that we are princesses."

"He's much too idiotic to understand something like social grade. He's an idiot with our boss too." Grumbled the devil. The princess stared at him for a couple of seconds, without commenting. Jaco had given her only the impression that he only acted like an idiot. Something in his eyes, in the way he moved when he was calm… they denoted not the idiocy that the demon was mentioning.

The alicorn shrugged. "So, did you enjoy the play? Twilight told me you were with the foals."

The devil turned his head, raising an eyebrow. "Twilight? Oh… I assume that seeing you was the "buisiness" they mentioned."

"Well, I asked them to visit me, before the play. It's so rare to see them, since they only come here rarely." Answered the alicorn, while the devil snickered.

"T check on me?" he asked, with a devious smile.

"No! I mean, why do I wa…"

"No offence to me princess, I wouldn't be calm with someone like me in my own kingdom. But don't treat me like an idiot." Said calmly the devil. "So, what did they tell you? That I'm a cute, little fluffy thing?"

"Mh… no, they actually said that you are a lazy, grumpy and whiny character a lot of time, but that in the end you are a nice guy." She answered, with a slight smirk on her face.

"Evidently they don't know me well enough." He growled, turning towards a stone path in the garden. The alicorn followed him, still smirking.

"Actually, I do believe that they know you better than you know yourself." She said, looking at the devil's face with her purple eyes. Noxfero didn't reply immediately, blinking in surprise.

"In only six months?" he finally asked, swinging his tail angrily. The princess only chuckled.

"Anyway, you didn't answer my question." She said when she finished laughing. The devil huffed.

"Imprecise. With contradiction and nosense. But at least, there was a good lesson inside."

"Yeah? Do you want to tell me about it?" asked the princess, looking encouragingly at the devil. He raised an eyebrow, but at the end, decided to play her game.

"About cooperation between races. The fact that differences are not important, and all that stuff." He paused, raising his eyes to the sky. "Mortals of my mortal world could learn a couple of things from you." He grumbled. When he noted the interrogative look on the alicorn's face, he chuckled. "In the mortal world there is only one race. There is not a 'magic' or a 'flying' version. The only difference is the color of the skin, that changes a little depending on where a mortal is born. Well, despite that, they are able to be full off hate towards each other. Just for the color of their skin. Or sexual preferences. Or depending on what they do believe."

"Really?" asked the alicorn, sincerely astonished. The devil nodded.

"And they are the only race able to kill another member of his own race or even family, over these things. Hell is full of stupid "righteous" people that in life thought that beating to death a couple of men holding hands was a good idea. They are suspended over a grill right now with an iron spike through their bodies. Or even people who think that other people are an 'inferior race' good only for slavery and nothing more. And when they were useless, they killed them with poisonous gas. They did that to the old and the young, who were useless for the labour." The devil's eyes blazed, while his hands grasped at the air, as if they wanted a neck to rip into.

"And some of them are convinced that it's all made legitimate by the fact that it's what the creator, or as we call him in Hell, 'the big bearded man in the sky', wants. And honestly, no one knows where the hell they take that idea from." He scratched his nape, breathing slowly for calming down. Under his feet the snow was melting.

"My boss is convinced that even the great bearded man in the sky has lost hope for the mortal kind. There are really, really few good mortals. That's why Hell is always full, and why Heaven is half-empty." He growled. Celestia said nothing, thinking about the words of the devil. That wasn't what she had expected to hear when she asked him about the play.

"I didn't want to make you upset or make you think about those things." She said calmly, as the devil was fuming. He looked at her with his angry eyes, before breathing.

"No problem. Torturing some of those souls was my work, after all. I'm just astonished of those things, even now. I tried to understand, like you are trying to, now. Some of us still try to understand how it's possible. Because these are not things that happened when I was a devil. Most of them happened when I was still alive, and even before I was even thought of! Didn't history teach anything?" The devil sighed. "Some may think that my boss and devils in general search only for the destruction of existence. But that's not true. That's the work of the gods of chaos and madness. We punish the wicked, we torture them. Hell was created to scare those who were easily swayed by the way of evil, to discourage them from doing anything bad. Didn't work out, in the end."

He sighed again. "Sorry princess, I didn't want to bother you with the problems of another dimension. It's just that sometimes, thinking about those things just make me furious…"

"You'd better stop! Some readers might not like those kind of things!" shouted Jaco's voice from one of the palace's towers.

"Well, then fuck them! I'm fucking right!" shouted back the devil. Then he blinked, and shouted again: "Wait, what readers?"

"Warasmalas!" cried back his minion. Noxfero sighed and shrugged, before starting to walk again.

"What readers was he talking about?" asked curiously the alicorn.

"Bite me." Answered the devil, annoyed. "Anyway princess, why did you want to talk to me, really?"

Celestia looked at him for a couple of seconds, before walking past him.. "Never mind, I got my answer, in a certain way." The devil grunted.

"Listen, I'd better be going… I don't want to have to fly back to Ponyville, so… well… bye." he muttered, spreading his wings.

"See you soon Noxfero. I expect to see you at the Grand Galloping Gala in spring. I gave your ticket to Twilight." Said calmly Celestia.

"Whatever…" muttered the devil, beginning to flap his black wings and rising in the air.

"Oh, and what about Jaco?!" asked Celestia to the flying silhouette of the demon.

"You can keep him!" growled him, before flying off.

-oOo-

"Oh, here you are! We were afraid we lost you or something." Said Cheerilee happily, as the devil landed in front of them. She smiled, and turned towards her sister Berry Punch, failing to notice Diamond Tiara sticking out her tongue. Noxfero did the same towards the little filly, with the exception that his tongue was composed of a long, shadowy snake that darted out and snapped its fangs a few inches from the filly's face, before disappearing. Noxfero jumped on the train, snickering evilly at the filly's face.

He sat down calmly, and closed his eyes, yawning. He felt the train start its engine, before it began to move slowly. The foals around him were noisy, but he just ignored them. Untill Dinky sat at his side, nudging his side a little.

"Thank you, by the way." She said, smiling. Noxfero opened an eye, looking at her.

"No problem. As I said, I don't like bullies."

"I don't know why she does that." added the grey filly, looking at the pink earth pony sitting some seats away.

"Dunno. Maybe she's just envious that you are a magical unicorn and she is a boring earth pony." He groaned, yawning.

"Oh Noxy, do you really think that earth ponies are boring?" trilled a voice on his other side. The devil turned his head while jumping back, startled, facing a seemingly hurt Pinkie Pie.

"No, I mean, she, not all the… I mean… you are not…."

"Awwww, look at him, trying to be nice." Squealed Jaco, popping out from Cheerilee's saddlebag.

Noxfero blushed (his cheeks turned grey, since his blood was black) before trying to fix his slip. "I mean, that's not a problem, all you ponies are lame and boring, not only the earth ponies!"

"Awwww, look at him, trying to save his image!" cooed Jaco, smiling wildly.

"I… well… fuck everyone!" exclaimed Noxfero, pointing his hand at Jaco, emitting a black zap of energy that hit his minion's face before the demon smashed the train cart's window and jumped out, spreading his wings and flying away into a sky that was beginning to darken.


	14. Magic

"We are going Pinkie! We'll be home soon as possible!" said Mrs. Cake, looking at the pink mare.

"Indeedy! Don't worry mrs. Cake. It's not the first time I foal-sit the babies anyway." Exclaimed the mare happily. The older mare smiled at her.

"I know Pinkie, we trust you. Just finish the baking now, send Noxfero to deliver the sweets, and keep an eye on the foals."

"Yes ma'am!" exclaimed Pinkie, sitting up straight and giving a military salute to the mare.

"You have to keep an eye on the two pests?" asked the devil while dangling upside down from the ceiling, as a group of crafted shadows were managing to mix the wet flowr on the work bench. The pink mare jumped inside, smiling.

"Indeedy. But they are not pests, they are really smart, and they don't make things hard for me." Replied the mare, looking up at the demon. "Do you want to stay and help me with them?"

"Hell no!" exclaimed the devil, losing his grasp and falling on the ground. "It's hard enough keeping an eye on Jaco."

"I'm in a oven!" exclaimed happily the addressed minion, smiling wildly as the temperature of the oven was rose. Pinkie looked at him with a confused expression for a second, before turning her eyes to Noxfero again.

"Oh, come on Noxy, it'll be fun!" she added, nuzzling against the demon's chest.

"Don't even think about that. And don't try to use your puppy-eyes-and-trembling-mouth tecnique. I hate babies, of every race. There is no way in heaven or hell!"

-oOo-

"Well… fuck!" stated the devil, rocking gently the baby Cakes on his lap, while Pinkie entered with a bottle of milk in her mouth.

"Come on Noxy, they are so cute! Junior was kind a jerk at this age." Said Jaco, taking the bottle and jumping over the devil. Noxfero grabbed the bottle, and smashed it on his minion's head.

"Oh that's true, you got a son!" exclaimed Pinkie. "You must know how to deal with kids."

"No I don't!" blurted the devil again, glaring as Pound Cake let out a loud belch, immediately imitated by Jaco, just to be supportive.

"He was independant the moment he got out of his egg."

"You devil creatures make eggs?" asked the mare, raising an eyebrow.

"Well no… but his mother is not a devil, she is a creature of chaos and such… and yada yada yada, she gives birth in a different way every time." Said the devil.

"Oh… I get it." Nodded Pinkie, with an expression that suggested she didn't get it at all. "Come on, give them to me, I'll feed them. You think of something to do with them. Some games maybe." The devil grunted something while handing the foals to the pink mare, then walking out of the room.

"Uh uh uh! We can play hide and seek! Or catch!" shouted Jaco, jumping happily around the devil's feet.

"Or follow the flaming minion who didn't know when to shut his trap." Growled the devil, stomping on the little devil's head. "I'm not going to play some silly games with a crazy pony, an idiot and a couple of whining foals!"

"Party pooper!" grumbled the little devil, inflating his splatted head. Then he jumped in one of the devil's pockets. "Maybe in here there is something to play with."

"Yeah sure…" grumbled the devil, gulping an entire cake, before returning to the other room, where Pinkie was entertaining the foals. The devil didn't say anything, sitting on a stool, watching as the pink mare began bouncing around with the foals on her head, giggling.

"Hey! This is something good for kids!" exclaimed Jaco, jumping out from the raincoat's pocket and jumping towards Pinkie with something in his grasp. Noxfero yawned, bored.

"What's that?" asked Pinkie, landing just in front of Jaco, while the foals looked at the little demon curiously.

"A fairy tale book! Nothing is better than a story after eating, yes?" asked the demon. Noxfero's ears perked up. Fairy tale book? He turned and opened the bottomless pocket where Jaco had been searching around.

"Yeah, why not? Do you want to listen to a story?" asked the mare, sitting on the ground and looking at the two foals, who nodded enthusiastically. She looked at the book: a simple scarlet leather cover, with some words carved in it in golden letters, in a language that the mare didn't recognized. She put a hoof on it and opened it, revealing… a series of blank pages.

"What's this?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. The devil's eyes widened.

"Everyone, get away from that book!" he screeched, jumping to his feet. The mare raised her eyes towards the devil.

"Lights!" Pumpkin Cake said happily.

"Parkles!" added Pound Cake, pointing at the book with his tiny hooves.

"Shiny!" added Jaco with a stupid expression on his face, just to follow the foal's words.

The mare lowered her gaze again, and saw some azure sparkles rising from the blank pages, popping into the air.

"Ooh, fancy!" she chirped, trying to touch one of them with a hoof. The book roared suddenly, and a blast of azure ethereal mist exploded out from the flipping pages and began to swirl through the room.

"O fuckity fuck!" screamed Nox, dropping on all fours and trying to run towards the exit. A tentacle of mist grabbed him around his wrist, dragging him towards the book. Another misty tentacle grabbed Jaco and a third one Pinkie, who dropped the two foals on the ground. With another roar, the mist reentered in the pages, dragging with it the three creatures. There was a last flash of azure light, then nothing.

"Pinkie…?" asked Pound Cake, looking around, searching for the familiar pink mare.

Pumpkin Cake stumbled towards the book and let out a surprised squeak, getting her brother's attention: the pages of the book had disappeared, revealing something like a forest, contained inside the book. Pound Cake reached his hoof forwards, trying to touch the tip of the small trees, but a little azure spark hit his hoof, making him retreat his hoof with a low whimper. The twins looked at the trees, noticing a couple of small figures moving. The raised their ears, as the figure's voices became audible.

-oOo-

"Well, fuck!" stated Noxfero, moving away a branch.

"Hey Noxy, little help here?" called Jaco's voice from above him. Noxfero raised his eyes, and found himself looking at a donkey. A fat donkey stuck between a couple of branches.

"No! You idiot, it's your fault in the first place that we are here!" growled the demon.

"It's not my fault that I'm stupid!" whined the donkey, dislodging himself from the branches and falling loudly to the ground. "Why am I a donkey?"he asked, looking at his hoof.

"Because, my dear idiot, this is the book that Pumpkinhead crafted for Junior, before we discovered that he was more mature than us! This thing is supposed to absorb any adult in the area and use them as characters for a casual fairy tale registed in the book's memory."

"And you think I'd remember something like that?" asked the Jaco-donkey, looking around. "And where are the kids?"

"Outside the book, enjoying the fairy tale." Growled Noxfero.

"And why are you green?" asked his former minion, pointing a hoof at Noxfero. The devil was going to reply, when he noticed that his skin was indeed a dull shade of green. The scream of terror of the devil sounded clearly even through in the bakery.

-oOo-

"Ok… ok… calm down…" grumbled Noxfero, massaging his head. "I just have to figure out what kind of fairy tale this one is, with a green man and a talking donkey, end it, and I'll be back again."

"You know, I think I know where we are." said calmly Jaco, swirling his hooves in the air while laying on the ground.

"Where?"

"Well… for me, you are like an ogre, I'm a talking donkey…I think we are in a Sh-"

"That's not a fairy tale! It's one of the most stupidly amazing movies of our time!"growled Noxfero, pointing a finger at the donkey.

"Well, it's fairy tale based. Maybe Pumpkinhead inserted that into the book too."

"Well... it seems like the most logical solution, anyway. Where in the story are we, do you think?" asked the demon, scratching his chin, noticing that his raincoat had been substituted by a leather vest.

"Well, we are near a path, a little far away from the trees, and I'm sure I can hear the 'I'm on my way' soundtrack. So I assume we are going to the castle? By the way… how do we get out of here?"

"Completing the story, of course." Grunted the demon. "Let's get this over with."

"Hey, and Pinkie?"

"She'll be the lord of the castle, probably. She is crazy enough to be."

"Then who'll be the princess?"

"Heck if I know." Grumbled the demon.

"And where are we walking? We have no idea where to go!"

"That's the book's problem, not mine. But I suppose it doesn't matter, since the story will go on by itself." Answered again the devil, just a second before the grassy ground was substituted by charred volcanic terrain, and as the sky was covered in smoke and ashes, the ground in front of them cracked before, with a sproinging noise, a castle jumped out from a pool of lava.

"See? As expected. I say thanks to the book for letting the story start in the middle."

"Or maybe the first part was narrated to the faols by an external narrator." Exclaimed Jaco-Donkey, beginning to jump happily on the mismatched and half shattered bridge that connected the castle to the ground.

The devil gulped, and began to walk slowly on the rotten planks, without looking down. He might have been immortal, but a bath in the lava, in his current conditions, wouldn't be the best idea.

"Now, there's supposed to be a dragon here, isn't it?" asked the donkey, sniffing around.

"Yeah… it's supposed to be here somewhere…"

An enormous scarlet dragon ran past them, opening his wings and darting into the sky, roaring and disappearing over the horizon. Noxfero blinked. "Well, that was interesting…"

"He was shouting something like 'shut her up, oh dear god, shut her up.'" said the donkeyentering the castle. The devil sighed, and followed him in.

"Don't know why, but I suppose I know who's going to be the princess…" he growled.

"Noxy!"

The high pitched "shout dug into his ears a second before a blurry pink and green bolt hit his chest, sending him to the hard floor of the castle. He opened his eyes, facing a smiling Pinkie Pie in a green dress. She wasn't transformed in any way to adapt to the needs of the story. Probably because the book wasn't crafted for creatures like her.

"I was so worried for you two! I tried to get out of here, but the dragon said that I couldn't leave. So I tried to talk to him, but I think he left the water running at his place, because he flew away in a hurry, and I thought I was alone and-"

"Yeah, ok Pinkie, I know. We are here. Now, "if you would be so kind as to get off me, we'll try to get out of here."

"Oki Dokie Loki!" said the mare, smiling and stepping away from the green devil. He hissed in annoyance, raising to his feet.

"Very well then, let's move out of here. And hope that the book will speed towards the finale." He grunted, turning and walking back to the exit, the pink mare happily jumping at his side.

In the exact moment Noxfero's feet passed over the bridge, the ground was covered in an instant with grass, as the castle disappeared behind them and the sky cleared, revealing a downhill slope with a, with a windmill in the distance.

"Well… at least everything's going smoothly." Said the green devil. And in that moment, a group of armored men sprung out from the ground, all of them with their swords pointed at him, a great D embossed on their chestplates. And in front of them, a small man on a horse walked slowly towards the group. Pinkie peeked out from behind the devil, while Jaco rolled on his flank at his side.

"Princess, stay away from that ogre! We are here to save you!" roared the man, pointing a finger toward the devil. Noxfero raised an eyebrow.

"Err… didn't you send me here to catch her?" he asked, confused.

"What are you talking about, fiend?!"

"I think the book messed up things a little!" stated Jaco.

"Ah! A talking donkey! Witchcraft!" exclaimed the man, backing away a little.

"Wait, why is a talking donkey strange?" asked Pinkie.

"My fair maiden, it's a witchcraft!"

"And you are not surprised by a talking pony?" asked the demon, raising an eyebrow.

"Told you that was a pony, my lord." Murmured one of the armored men. The short man on the horse blinked, before shrugging.

"She's a princess anyway! Kill the ogre!" he ordered, pointing at Noxfero. The men shouted and charged, weaving their weapons. Noxfero sighed, grabbing Jaco's neck, and waving him in the air.

"I'm a donkey axe!" he shouted happily.

-oOo-

"A valiant fight, ogre!" stated the little man, as the last of his men was knocked down by a donkey to the head. The devil huffed.

"Fair maiden, run away from that foul beast, as I distract him!" shouted the man, jumping off the horse and extracting a sword. Pinkie blinked, while walking towards Noxfero.

"Uh… why?" she asked. "That's Noxy. I don't even know you. And you are being nasty and calling Noxy names!"

The men blinked, opened his mouth and closed it again. "But… we are saving you… He's an orc… i mean… come on he's green and…stuff and…" he grumbled something. "Well fine! Come on guys, let's go to find that Snow White princess… maybe she has a better taste." He blurted, trying to get on his horse again. One of the armored soldiers picked him up and placed him on the saddle.

"I don't get it, princess…"

"Pony. Pink pony."

"I don't get it, pink pony princess. Why do you prefer him to a fascinating prince charmin such as myself?"

Pinkie tapped her chin. "Well… he's funny, nice, gentle when he wants to be. You just arrived here and ordered them to hurt him!" she pointed out. The men shrugged, and galloped away, followed by his men, who were suddenly healthy again, and they disappeared into thin air after a few seconds.

"That's not exactly how the story went." Grunted Noxfero, looking where the men had vanished.

"I told you, the book got a little dizzy. I think because Pinkie is a different creature and messed it up." Said Jaco, while pulling out a piece of helmet stuck in his flank.

"Ok then, the story has ended. Why aren't we getting out!?" cried the devil, waving his fist to the sky. "What else do you want, you damned book!?"

"Maybe the kiss." Stated bluntly Jaco. The devil turned his head so fast that his neck cracked. "You know, for the happily ever after finale. I suppose it's obbligatory."

The devil turned towards Pinkie, who wasn't paying any attention to the dialogue and was instead looking curiously to some pieces of armor left by the men.

"She's a horse."

"Well yeah. But she is cuter than a horse from our world. And, let's face it. You kissed worse things. You kissed a corpse."

"Sasha is not a corpse!"

"She is a vampire! Come on, she actually is a corpse!" replied Jaco. Without knowing what to say, Noxfero just punched his donkey face, before turning towards Pinkie, sighing.

"You are going to make me do it, aren't you?" he asked, looking at the empty sky. He sighed and walked towards the mare. He grasped her by the shoulders and raised her into the air, facing her surprised muzzle.

"Noxy? What are you doing?" she asked, confused, moving a little her hindlegs.

"Getting us out of here. Nothing more." He growled, breathing heavily. His heart was racing, and it was making him angry. "What am I, some pathetic kid having his first kiss? I'm pathetic!" he thought, while looking at Pinkie. He bit his tongue, trying to calm himself. "I'm pathetic… like the first time…" he thought again, repressing a snarl. "Better get over with it quickly. No tongue, I could mess things up… in the sense, ugh, she is a HORSE!" He closed his eyes and leaned forwards, placing a quick kiss on the mare's lips: they had a faint taste of candies and sweets

When he opened his eyes again, he recognized the interior of the bakery. Pinkie was still held in his grasp, and Jaco was a little distance away, again in his normal form, chewing on some grass. On the ground, the book closed, emitting a few sparks, while the two foals clapped their hooves happily. The devil blinked, let Pinkie fell to the floor, turned and darted towards the door, smashing through it and leaving a Noxfero-shaped hole.

"I KISSED A HORSE! SOMEONE BURN MY MOUTH! I NEED SOME ACID TO WASH IT!" arrived his voice from outside.

"Why is he…?"

"Meh, he pretends to have standards. I actually think he enjoyed it, since he lowered himself to kiss half dragon-human-things hybrid before." Stated Jaco, gulping the grass and grabbing the book. "Oh, and don't think too badly of, it was the only way to get out of the book." He said, patting the mare's leg. "I'd better go stop him, before he breaks into Twilight's home searching for some acid."

The sound of broken wood and of a magical blast echoed through the night.

"Oops, better move. See you Pinkie!" exclaimed the little devil, before darting out of the door.

Pinkie blinked, for once really confused (and not the confuser), and watched as the little demon disappeared in the darkness, while a violet blast shone near Twilight's home.

"Enjoyed…?"


	15. Loyalty

"Are you sure that it's better to not call Noxy?" asked Pinkie, while walking in the snowy path towards town, followed at one side by Jaco's head, the body submerged under the white carpet.

"Positive. If we can let him sleep a little longer, let him. He usually wakes up early like you."

"But I'm not tired!"

"Because you are used to it. And because you are Pinkie Pie."

"Oh. Well, that make sense. Anyway, thank you for helping with winter wrap up Jaco! Maybe you can help Rarity craft nests for the little birds."

"It'll be my pleasure." Chirped Jaco, following the mare. "After all, I got fingers, no one here has fingers."

-oOo-

"That's right Spike, you have fingers like me!" exclaimed the little devil happily, facing the baby dragon on the other side of the table.

"Err… yes?" the baby dragon answered awkwardly. It was obvious that he had hoped to be alone with Rarity.

"You have already done this stuff?" asked the little devil, looking at the material on the table. The baby dragon nodded, adjusting the scarf at his neck. "Good, you can teach me." chirped the devil.

"You want to convince me that you don't know how to make a nest?" asked in disbelief the baby dragon.

"I don't know what they told you, but where I come from, birds do their own nests all alone." Said the little devil, while calmly pressing a sewing needle into his head. "We don't need Rarity's help, you can teach me everything!"

Spike smiled. "Well, I'll try…"

"That's the spirit Spike!" exclaimed Jaco, giving an imperceptible wink towards the window of the boutique, where Rarity was gathering the last materials. The mare smiled, happy that Jaco had given something similar to a position of responsibility to her little Spiky-wikey. That was good for his self-esteem. She continued to gather needles and pieces of fabric humming quietly.

"Oh, hello thereeEEEARGH!" screamed Jaco. The mare didn't pay much attention to that. Probably Noxfero had probably arrived and greeted him with some sort of violence. Then she froze, when she heard a voice that she had heard only once before, over a year ago, during the dragon's migration.

"Well well well, hello there, Spike!"

-oOo-

Noxfero opened his eyes. The air was still. The silence was perfect. And he felt perfect. No little pains. No nausea. The devil sat on the branch. He sniffed the air: he could feel every sin committed in Ponyville, even if the town was far away from where he was. He slid off the tree, then turned towards it, and quickly moved a finger: a faint shadowy line trailed from his finger, cutting the tree in half.

The devil looked at his hand, before beginning to laugh maniacally, darting into the air. He roared, and flew over the forest, still laughing. "My powers! My powers are all here!" he screamed, pointing one hand under him, releasing a blast of shadows that made the earth explode and the trees burn. He landed, and breathed a stream of purple flames all around him, burning another whole bunch of trees. He didn't need to eat other sins, he didn't nead to eat at all anymore.

He laughed again, maniacally, looking at the sky. He could leave that crazy place full of colored ponies, and retire alone in the depths of the forest for all of the eternity, Far away from their voices, their faces, their happines, and their company…

"…. Nah… better stay in town. With this powers, I can bug them a lot more. And Pinkie will love to use them to prank everyone." He chuckled to himself. "Just because staying for all the eternity alone with Jaco it's worse than Hell!" he immediately added to himself. He turned again, heading towards town, whistling happily and making some trees wither with just his touch.

He left the forest as soon as his hunger for destruction, after all those months of forced calm, had been satisfied… just to end up finding Fluttershy, occupied in whispering in some snowy burrows.

"Come on little friend, it's time for you to wake up." She murmured quietly into one of them. "Come on, don't be shy, spring it's caaAAEP!" she whimpered, as a dark grasp twisted around her, raising her in the air. She waved her legs in panic, stopping only when Noxfero entered in her field of view. "Uh… hello Noxfero… could you please… put me down? If you are ok with that, I mean…" she murmured. Noxfero grinned, and slowly set her on the ground.

"Sorry, Shyshy." he mocked with a grin. "Just wanted to test some powers."

"Oh, did you regain something else?" she asked timidly, passing a hoof in her mane.

"Not something… just all the stock." Grinned the devil. Strangely, he didn't feel any need to brag about that. Probably because none of those ponies would have ever understood.

"I'm… happy for you…" murmured the mare, smiling. "Say…do…do you want to help me wake up the animals from hibernation, with your new powers?" she asked timidly, daring to look at the demon's eyes.

"Well…" the demon huffed. "I suppose, yes. I don't have nothing better to do. Do I have to burn their homes or something?"

Fluttershy's eyes widened. "Burn their homes?! No?! Why… why would you do that?" The devil shrugged.

"I don't know. You are doing that over there." He grunted, pointing his clawed finger towards a stream of black smoke in the distance, rising lazily in the sky. Fluttershy's eyes widened even more.

"Those are not the animal's houses… this is PonyvieEp!" she exclaimed, when the devil grabbed her for her wrist. "Nox, what are you…?"

"Shut your mouth Shy." Growled the devil. He hardly heard the "Sorry…" that the mare whimpered, concentrating on finding the voice he was searching for. Archdevils were all linked to something that represented the sin that they mastered, and his was Envy, the shadow in everyone's heart. Strange that Twilight never asked him why he mastered a vast number of shadow-related magics and nothing more. He perked his ears, and sensed it: Pinkie's shadow was still whole, undamaged, and moving. So, the mare was alive too.

"We'd better move." Grunted the devil, flexing his legs.

"Well, we can fly, we can do it in two minutes…" began the mare, before being cut off by the devil.

"Why not two seconds? Hold your breath!" he ordered, before jumping into his shadow, dragging the pegasus with him. Darkness surrounded the two for a couple of seconds, before the devil jumped out of Pinkie's shadow, and into the middle of Ponyville, startling a certain orange mare.

"What the hay!" exclaimed Applejack, kicking Noxfero in the face on instinct. The devil whimpered, letting Fluttershy go and bringing his hands to his face. The broken nose was already fixing itself, but the pain was still there.

"The fuck, you damned redneck apple maniac!" he growled.

"Hi Noxy!" stated the pink mare, smiling. The devil noted some bruises on her side. And nothed also that the trail of smoke that he saw was in fact, coming from Twilight's library, which was engulfed in flames.

"What's happened here?" "asked the yellow pegasus, looking terrified as a group of weather ponies flew fast through the sky, accumulating a bunch of dark clouds overthe tree.

"Dragons, that's what!" barked Applejack, stomping her hoof angrily on the ground. "Young ones, they were rampaging!" Fluttershy gulped.

"What… what did they want?" she asked, looking up as the clouds began to rain over the library, putting out the fire.

"Ah'd don't know. They attacked Rarity's place to start, luckily they didn't burn it down, then came here. It's a miracle the fire didn't spread any further." She huffed.

"Oh my… how are Rarity and Twilight? The poor dears must be traumatizated…" said the pegasus, raising a hoof in front of her mouth. The earth pony grunted, rubbing the nape of her neck.

"Well… ya see Shy…"

"They are gone." Stated coldly the devil, standing motionless in the middle of the street, his ears flapping slowly, his eyes closed. "I can't sense them anywhere. Nor Dash, Spike or Jaco."

Fluttershy gasped loudly, sitting on the ground. "How do ya know that partner?" asked the orange mare in disbelief. The only one seemingly unsurprised was Pinkie Pie.

"I can't sense any of their shadows. As for Jaco, I just don't hear his annoying voice." Stated the devil, turning towards the mares. "The dragons took them?"

"You are darned right!" growled the farmer pony. "They were so quick! Twilight and Rainbow tried to stop them, but they were both knocked out."

"They… they tried to stop adult dragons?!" cried out Fluttershy. "My, that was extremely careless of them…"

"Well, they weren't exactly adults…like, teenage dragons is more correct." Pointed out Applejack, sitting beside Fluttershy and patting her back. "Now, calm down Shy, Ah'm sure that they are fine."

"Aren't dragons supposed to be carnivorous?" asked casually the devil, sniffing the air. Flutterhy squealed and covered her eyes with her hooves, whimpering.

"Gee, thank you, genius. That was uncalled for." Growled the orange mare.

"Do you think we have to warn Princess Celestia?" asked Pinkie, looking worriedly at the sky. "We'll need the Wonderbolts to scout everywhere for them."

"That's for sure, sugarcube." nodded Applejack, an angry frown on her muzzle. She probably felt furious for being unable to help her friends.

The devil growled something to himself, before clearing his throat. "Get into my pockets."

"Beg ya pardon?" asked Applejack, raising an eyebrow, imitated by Pinkie Pie. Even Fluttershy raised her watery eyes. "Ain't no time for jokes, Nox! Our friends have been ponynapped, we have to- Woah! Put me down, do ya hear me!" roared the mare as soon as a shadowy hand grasped her and raised her in the air. Noxfero didn't say anything, stretching one of his pockets open and letting the mare fall in.

"Grab onto the edge, or you'll fall into a bottomless pocket-dimension." Snorted, letting the pocket dimension permit to Applejack's head and forelegs to stay out.

"What in tarnation do you think you are doing?"

"Saving the other annoying mares, the dragon brat and that abomination with the conical body that I usually carry around. I thought you would have wanted to come." Stated the devil.

"Sure we do!" exclaimed Pinkie, popping out from another pocket. "Ready when you are! Are you coming too Fluttershy?" asked the mare, smiling to the pegasus.

"I don't know… I'll probably be just a dead weight… and it's seems too dangerous for me anyway…and…" her voice disappeared in a confused murmur.

"Shyshy… honestly… do you think I'd let any one of you get hurt?" asked the devil, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh shucks, that's mighty nice from ya."

"…Of course, I'm the only one allowed to burn your mane or let you dangle in the air." Added the devil, glaring at the orange mare, who just giggled.

Fluttershy tilted her head, before finally deciding. "O…ok then… i trust you…" she murmured, stepping slowly towards the devil, before jumping into one of the raincoat's pockets. The devil grinned, before flapping his wings and darting into the sky, startling a couple of pegasi.

"The mayor will warn the Princess though… how do ya hope to find the others?" shouted Applejack, over the scream of the wind.

"I can sense Jaco's smell. We have a routine, in case he gets taken by someone!" explained the devil, sniffing the air, before flapping his wings to gain speed, towards the forest of Everfree.

-oOo-

"Does he have some sort of diaphragm dysfunction?!" roared the scarlet young dragon, pressing his hands on his ears, as Jaco emitted another loud belch that actually made some pebbles fall from the ceiling of the cave where they were.

"That's a good question, actually…" agreed Twilight, glaring for a second at the satisfied devil, before returning her gaze to the group of young dragons she and her friends had in front of them: she had already seen all of them, when she followed Spike into the volcanic area where they encountered the dragons migration. And their leader was the same dragon that that time tried to make him smash a phoenix egg.

"What's that thing anyway Garble? It's neither a pony nor a dragon." Asked a slim purple dragon, looking with confusion at Jaco.

"You are such a blockhead. That's why I'm the leader here." Grunted the red dragon, scoffing at his fellow. "Now, Spiky, why don't you say hello to your old friend? Still stuck with these grasseating quadrupeds?" he asked in a mocking tone to the baby dragon. Spike glared at him, sniffing and trying not to cry.

"You are not my friends! Those are my friends, and my family!" he shouted, trembling. Rarity leaned over him, patting him on the head.

"Why, thank you Spiky."

"Why, thank you Spiky!" mocked the dragon, making his companions laugh. "You're really a pony in a dragon dress!"

"Well, wonderful, now that that's settled, can we go home?" asked the purple unicorn, smiling awkwardly while holding back the cyan pegasus, who was trying to charge the dragon.

"Are you kidding, pony? We have to make you pay for escaping and humiliating us!" growled the dragon, baring his sharp fangs.

"I'm sure you can humiliete yourselves quite happily by yourselves, without any pony's help." Chirped Jaco, before burping again. The dragon turned his head, as his companions growled angrily.

"Look here guys, we got a comedian. Well, guess what? I hate your sense of humor!" growled Garble, kicking Jaco's face. Or at least, he tried: Jaco's stayed in place, while from the dragon's foot arrived the sound of kringed bones. The dragon howled in pain, jumping away and holding his feet waining.

The little devil chuckled. "Oh boy, when Noxy arrives, he'll beat the living hell out of all of you pipsqueaks!"

"Who?" asked a couple of the dragons, confused. Jaco just chuckled, and began to stare at the young flying lizards.

-oOo-

"Just asking: what's the smell ya are following?" asked the orange mare, trying not to look at the green carpet that was passing by below the flying devil.

"Jaco's breath. He was instructed to eat an onion whenever he was kidnapped. Always works." Growled back the devil, flapping his wings. "Still can't feel them…" he added, with a slight frown. "They might have flown for a lot of time."

"Why an onion? Why not something sweeter?" asked Pinkie, while looking at the cloudless sky. The devil grinned.

"Because Jaco hates onions. And because I love the taste of onions, and because the smell is strong enough to follow…"

"What…what are we going to do when…when we find the dragons?" asked Fluttershy, gulping. The devil huffed, a little annoyed.

"I'll beat them until all their teeth are on the ground."

"But that doesn't sound… very nice…"

"You can't always be nice Shy." Grunted the devil. then he stopped in midair, sniffing and waving his ears. "I sense them."

"By the way, what do ya mean you 'sense' them?" asked doubtfully Applejack, blinking at the devil.

"I can hear the voices of their shadows."

"You what now?"

"Don't worry about that, you wouldn't understand." stated the devil calmly, beginning to descend to the ground. "They are in a cave in one of those mountains over there." He stated, pointing to a group of mountains in the distance.

"I can feel them. Now, since little Shyshy is worried about what kind of approach I have to use, I'll let you debate about it."

"Really?" asked hopefully Fluttershy.

"No." Answered coldly the devil. "But I suppose that before thinking of beating them, it's better to take the others out of danger… you never know."

"Dash will not be happy."

"Who cares. Better unhappy and ok, than happy and severed. Pinkie, I need you…"

"Me? Why me?"

"Because you are the most distracting thing ever…"

-oOo-

"Hi there everypony! Whatcha doing?" chirped the pink mare, standing on her hindlegs at the entrance of the cave. The dragons turned to her, blinking, as the mares on the other side of the cavern stared.

"Pinkie? What are you doing here?" managed to ask Dash. But the only answer she got was a fit of giggles. The scarlet dragon growled.

"Hey guys, check this out, that girly pony is friends with these ponies. So she must be a friend of Spike. So she's not our friend. Get her!" Garble ordered, gesturing to his companions, who growled and charged en masse Pinkie. But she only giggled and began to run around, the dragons trying to catch her.

"So… Pinkie's plan was running around?" asked Dash, groaning.

"We can't even escape, with her and the dragons around the entrance." Added Rarity.

"Maybe I can try to teleport us out of here…"

"You can't try that Twi, you are going to knock yourself outand we probably won't even be out of the forest!" exclaimed Spike, stopping the unicorn. Jaco turned his head like an owl, smiling.

"Hi Noxy!"

The others turned, and noticed that from the gigantic shadow that Pinkie was projecting on the wall behind them, Noxfero was sliding out, with Fluttershy and Applejack in his pockets, a sick expression on their faces.

"Ah rekon Ah don't like this 'shadow traveling' of yours…" groaned Applejack, holding back a retch.

"So sorry AJ, but shadow stepping is not developed for living things with weak stomachs. Try not to barf in my pocket, please." Growled the devil.

"You came to save us!" whispered Rarity in surprise. "I would never have expected that."

"Probably Pinkie annoyed him so much ic convinced him, if I know her." stated Rainbow with a grin.

"A…actually, he did it all on his own…" whispered Fluttershy, looking scared as the young dragons ran around, trying to catch the pink pony, without noticing the new presences in the cavern.

"I did it to prevent Pinkie annoying me!" blurted Noxfero, his cheeks[faintly grayed.

"Sure you did!" chirped Jaco, jumping on his feet. "Even if I would have expected you to charge inside screaming like crazy."

"You know me well then." Hissed the devil. "Now, all of you, move your freaking asses and jump in my pockets! Quick!" The mares nodded, and giving some quick gazes to the still running pink pony, they walked towards the devil, trying to enter the stretchable pockets. AJ and Fluttershy jumped out, trying to help Twilight, who they saw that even if she hadn't said anything, had a leg scorched.

"Gotcha, you pony!" growled finally a dragon, grasping the puffy tail of Pinkie Pie. "No more running for you!"

"Oh boy, you caught me, that was fun!" giggled Pinkie, while dangling upside-down. "Now it's your turn to run around and for me to catch you!"

"Oh yes!" nodded a fat brown dragon, before being hit in the nape by Garble.

"Hello? She is a pony. And an annoying one too. I say we teach her a lesson." He snickered, glaring at Pinkie. Noxfero's ears darted up.

"What if we cut her mane and tail? She's got too much of both." grinned wickedly the dragon.

"What if I skin all of you and make a wallet out of your scales?" hissed the devil loudly, making the dragons turn towards him.

"Didn't we want to do things in secret?" asked Applejack, raising an eyebrow.

"Change of plans." Growled the devil.

"When did a hairless monkey and two other ponies get in here?! Who did we send out to scout the area?" asked angrily the red dragon.

"Crackle!"

"Oh… never mind then." The dragon glared at Noxfero grinning. "So… a monkey against us? Boy, i'm sooooooooo scared…. Get him, guys!" he roared, as the dragon teenagers charged happily at the devil. They were a little less happy when the first of them was punched in the stomach, sending him to slam against the cavern's wall. And even less happy when the devil grabbed the fat brown dragon by his tail and began to use it as a mace against the others.

"Where did you get that popcorn from?" asked Rainbow, looking at Jaco, who was sitting on the ground with a bowl of popcorn on his lap. The devil just smiled, and continued to look at the scene: Noxfero was currently slamming a stalagmite on a dragon's head.

"Mh… apparently you hairless talking monkeys are not so lame as those ponies… well, ready to take the real dragon?!" Garble growled when the last of his friends was knocked unconcious. The devil shrugged.

"Bring it on, winged newt."

Garble roared and charged Noxfero, letting Pinkie fall to the ground.

-oOo-

"How… how did you manage to tie his tail around his mouth?" asked Twilight, watching as the devil calmly flapped his wings inthe air.

"It takes practice."

"Well, thank you for saving us."

"Even if it wasn't necessary, of course." Snickered Dash, while flying at the devil's side. Noxfero just huffed, rolling his eyes.

"Come on Rainbow, ya got to gave him credit."

"Of course, his help was appreciated. I just couldn't let them taste the rainbow."

"And thanks for stopping them from cutting my mane. I like my mane, even if it's super duper hard to comb!" chirped Pinkie, gaining a glare from Rarity, who probably had another term to define what Pinkie did with her mane. Pinkie smiled and snuggled against the devil, who let out a low, confused growl.

"Is it me, or is there the smell of sulfur in the air?" asked Jaco, sniffing with his absent nose, imitated by Spike.

"No, you are right! That sulfu-" He was cut off by a loud roar, followed by others. A pack of full grown dragons were flying towards them, roaring, and making Fluttershy flinch and cower in fear.

"I suggest you speed up Noxy." Said calmly the little devil, yawning, clearly not scared. Maybe.

"What for? To let us be followed into Ponyville? Better beat them here." Snorted the devil, flapping his wings to stay suspended and still in midair, being surrounded by the group of dragons.

"Here it is ma, he's the one that broke my tail!" growled Garble, pointing at Noxfero, while flying near a big scarlet dragon's head.

"So, you are the little wretch that hurt my little Garble , huh?" roared the dragon in a voice that Noxfero would have never said was "female".

"Heck yeah. That's because your little Garble kidnapped three of these ponies here, plus a baby dragon." Growled the devil, ready to charge. But the expression on the dragon's muzzle stopped him. The dragon turned her head towards Garble, glaring.

"You didn't tell me that."

"Well… you see, mom…" The young dragon flinched under his mother's gaze.

"Our sons did that too?" asked another dragon, looking at the devil.

"If they are between the ones I have beaten, then yes."

"Garble, go home, young dragon, we'll exchange some words there."

"But Moooooooom!"

"Now!"

The young dragon huffed and flew away, grumbling angrily, followed by all the other dragons, leaving the two devils, the ponies and the baby dragon suspended in the sky alone.

"Well… that was unexpected…" muttered Twilight. Fluttershy simply fainted.

-oOo-

"So… that's the right idea?" asked Junior, glaring at the scarecrow, who nodded. "Perfect, I have to remember to thank Grim then. Work on the machine. How much time do you need?"

"Well… a week or two, but there will be the same problem as the other time…" muttered Pumpkinhead, adjusting his goggles. "I can stabilize the flow of energy… but I need a source of energy similar to your father's. The portal was built to run off his powers."

The little demon frowned even more. "Very well, I'll provide the energy."

"You? But… I mean, ok, it'll work, but who will cross the portal to search for the master? I can find a way to open the portal near him, but it will be brief anyway, even with the energy stabilizer. I could keep it open for… something like ten minutes, maybe?" The little devil said nothing, blinking slowly.

"Slender!"

"Yes, young master?" asked the slim figure, walking out of the shadows.

"Get Satan. I'm sure he'll be happy to retrieve dad."


	16. The Gala

"Noxfero, please, stop moving!" growled Rarity, adjusting her glasses. "How could you hope that I could make you a suit for the gala, if you continue to stop my ministrations!"

"I don't even want a suit for a stupid Gala!" the devil, using his tail to slap away the tape measure that Rarity was making fly around him. "I'm just here for my last delivery, and you just kidnapped me or something!"

"Why, of course you want a suit. The gala is an important social event, you know?" stated Rarity, ignoring the second part of Noxfero's whining. "You want to present yourself with something better that that raincoat."

"What's wrong with my raincoat?"

"Oh silly… it's not good for a social event."

"I don't think that the Princess will even care about something like that."

"Well, maybe. But there aren't only the princesses, but most of the nobilty."

"And do you think I care about the nobilty's opinion?" snickered the devil, slapping away a levitating needle. "Listen, make a dress for Jaco and stop bugging me." He growled, taking his minion out of one pocket and tossing him on the ground. "I have other things to do. And if someone say something at the gala, you can just say I refused to have a new suit."

"But… but…"

"I appreciate the thought, really, but I have something else to do now. I'm leaving Sweetie Belle's sweets here." Groaned the devil, dropping a colorful box on a table, and darting out of the boutique before the mare could add something else.

"He's such a difficult guy sometimes…" huffed the unicorn, smirking.

"Tell me about it." Stated the little devil. "Pinkie asked him to help her with something this afternoon, I suppose that's why he's in such a hurry. Can you make me a sombrero?"

"Pinkie?" asked the mare, allowing herself to chuckle. "Oh my, that's interesting."

"If you say so. What about a gemstones sombrero?"

-oOo-

"You really managed to escape Rarity?" asked Rainbow Dash in disbelief.

"Ya didn't hurt her, did ya?" asked Applejack, a little bit of concern in her voice.

"Of course not. And tell me… why the hell did you two have to land on me?!" Growled the devil, tapping the ground with a finger, while the pair of mares were sitting on his back.

"Heh. Sorry 'bout that Nox. Just had a little inconvenience while AJ was helping me with a trick that I want to use tonight. Just to impress the Wonderbolts."

"You are still after that?" huffed the demon, standing up and forcing the couple of mares away from his back.

"What do you mean by that?" the aggressive cyan pegasus growled immediately.

"You are the only pegasus able to perform a sonic rainboom, you saved their lives, and are certainly the most talented flyer around here. You have 'badassery' written all over you. If they didn't plead for you to join up, they are just blind fools. You are obviously too awesome for them."

"Oooh… thanks Noxy!" squealed the pegasus, raising her hooves to her face, while the orange mare emitted a soft chuckle.

"Where are you going in such a hurry, sugarcube?"

"Gotta see the pinkiest and craziest creature in this side of the multiverse. She needs help with something." Shouted the devil, already far from them.

"Shucks, he's a nice guy when he wants to be." Stated Applejack, looking at the devil.

"Hey girls, over here!" chirped Rarity, poking her head out from one of the boutique's windows.

"For what Rare? Ah don't need a new dress for the gala, ya know?"

"Well, if it was up to me you could have some better clothes… but that's not the point, I have some interesting things here."

"What are you three talking about?" asked Twilight, walking towards the boutique, Fluttershy beside her.

"Oh, something that Jaco said, draw near, it's something interesting…" began Rarity, with a devious smile.

-oOo-

"I need you to put these streamers all around this clearing! Then we can put up all the balloons!" chirped the mare, jumping happily around in a clearing near the Everfree forest's edge. The devil was walking beside her, looking around.

"And that is for what…?"

"For my surprise birthday party, silly! " answered the mare. Noxfero blinked.

"And you are… preparing your own surprise party?"

"Of course, nopony is better than me in preparing parties." Explained Pinkie in a matter-of-fact tone. "But don't worry, I Pinkie Promise I'll be totally surprised!"

"That's not the…" the devil sighed. "Why do I still try to find any sense in what you do?"

"I have no idea!" said the mare, smiling. "Usually my birthday is before the Gala, but this year they decided to anticipate it. Oh well, no problem."

The devil huffed, before snapping his fingers: a series of shadowy tentacles and hands appeared from the shadows of the trees, beginning to set up whatever Pinkie asked. Now that his powers were restored, at least he could sit under a tree, simply listening to the mare, and just direct the shadows around. In this way passed the morning and half of the afternoon.

"You are coming, aren't you?" asked suddenly the mare. Noxfero moved his gaze from the sky to Pinkie, raising an eyebrow.

"What are you…?"

"To my party, of course!" she chirped, walking towards him and sitting at his side. "You always come to my parties, but you are just on your own, avoiding contact most of the time. But at my birthday it's going to be just us and the others… so maybe you could feel more comfortable with just us, and have even more fun!"

The devil blinked. "Well… I was planning to come anyway, but if you insist like this…". The mare held her breath. "…There is no more doubt about it." Said the devil, smirking.

"Thank you Noxy!" exclaimed the mare, leaning towards him and kissing his cheek, before jumping away happily. "See you later on the train for Canterlot then!" she cried, before disappearing. The devil just stood motionless, passing eventually a hand over his cheek.

"Well… at least it will not burn." He managed to say, after another minute.

-oOo-

"You could have permitted me to make some additions to your raincoat." Stated Rarity, glaring at the black vest of the devil.

"Like the ones you made for Jaco?" he asked, raising an eyebrow, pointing at his minion, who was singing happily something while on his head was posed a sombrero ornamented with an enormous amount of gems.

"Well, I'm sure some amethysts and obsidians would have added some value to it." Stated the mare, receiving another huff from Noxfero. "But I'm sure you had something better to do." She added, with a smirk, imitated by Rainbow, Applejack and Twilight, while Fluttershy blushed and Pinkie put on a confused face.

"What are you talking about? What is it? What is it?" exclaimed the pink mare, bouncing on her seat, earning some disapproving looks from the other passengers.

"Ah'm sure dear Noxy knows what are we talking about." Said Applejack, grinning and adjusting her hat. The devil blinked, then grumbled something, turning towards the window.

-oOo-

"Ok, remember: be polite, calm, watch our behaviour and… where is Jaco?" asked Twilight, in front of the castle entrance. Noxfero shrugged. Twilight caught the vision of Jaco rolling along inside the castle on his head before disappearing from her sight. She sighed.

"Let's go…" she murmured, lowering her head. And she rose it after a few seconds, when a familiar voice called to her.

"Twilli! You are arrived!" exclaimed Shining Armor, walking towards his little sister with a smile, closed in an armor as beautiful as it was useless. A typical ceremonial armor.

"Hi big bro! You got an invitation as Cadence's husband, hmm?" grinned the purple mare, while her friends joined at her side. "Where is she now, by the way?"

"Hum… barfing, I fear. She'll be here in a few minutes."

"Is she sick?" asked Fluttershy worriedly, but Shining Armor just continued to smile.

"Absolutely not! Actually, we are wonderful!" He moved his gaze to his sister. "You are going to be an aunt!"

"What?!"

"She is pregnant! Six months, more or less! I was waiting to be sure about the gender before telling you!" exclaimed the stallion. "By the way, you have to tell me how did you know." He added, turning his eyes on Noxfero, who shrugged. "Cadence told me that when you two met, you told her that 'she was a female.' We didn't understand at the beginning, but well… you were talking about this, didn't you? How did you know?"

"Pregnant females produce different kind of hormones. I smelled them." Answered lazily the devil.

"But how did you know that she was female?"

"Call me golden nose. Now, what about we leave the happy family to cheer all together, and go inside to eat something?" said the devil, slapping his tail on the ground.

"Why of course. Congratulations Shining, we'll leave you with Twilight. Bring our regards to Cadence too." Said professionally Rarity, taking the lea position of the group. The other mares gave their congratulations, before following the white mare inside the castle, just to be greeted again by a white alicorn with a multicolored mane.

"Welcome to all of you. I had the pleasure to meet Jaco, a few minutes ago…" she said, smiling brightly, while the ponies bowed and Noxfero twitched his tail as a greeting. "You'd better go out, since Luna did such a great job with tonight's sky, it's a shame to hold the gala inside."

"Although, I'd like to exchange a few words with Noxfero." She added, staring at the devil.

"Whatever happened, it's Jaco's fault!"

"No I… what? I just wanted to have another little chat with you." said the alicorn, looking slightly confused. Noxfero huffed, before following her.

-oOo-

"So, are you getting used to Equestria?" asked Celestia, while she walked in a calmer part of the gardens, followed by the devil.

"It's not that I have much of a choice, being stuck here." Grunted the devil, before softening his tone a little: "But yes, it's a little better than the last time."

"Twilight told me about the affair with the dragons." Stated the Princess, sniffing a rose. "Thank you for helping her and her friends." The devil grumbled something. "You aren't really talkative tonight, are you?"

"Not much… I got a lot of things in my mind lately… for example, that actually I consider them….friends…" he spat the word with fatigue. "Those mares…"

"And why is that bad?" asked Celestia, turning her head and examining the devil's face with a curious look. The devil laughed softly, and in a certain way, sadly.

"You are immortal. Like me. I'm sure you can understand what I mean." He murmured softtly. The alicorn looked at him with a slightly sad expression.

"I understand… but it's better to live a single life of friendship, instead of living alone for the whole of eternity." She said calmly, turning down the stone path towards the side of the garden where the Gala was happening. Noxfero caught a quick image of Jaco, with a mustache and the sombrero mysteriously turned in a top hat talking to Luna, before they disappeared from his sight.

"Just have fun." Said Celestia smiling, before walking off towards a group of other ponies. And the devil was left in the middle of pompous, high-ranking ponies. He blinked, with the smell of pride blurring his vision. He shrugged. Well, he had to eat, after all.

"Cake!" shouted suddenly Jaco's voice. Noxfero tried to locate him… before a big white cake with chococolate icing hit his head, covering the major part of his face in frosting. He turned his head, growling in anger, ignoring the surprised gasps of the nobles and Jaco's ear-breaking laughter, concentrating on the only other possible creature in the garden that could have done something so highly dangerous to its safety: Pinkie Pie.

Indeed, the mare was on the other side of the area, licking some frosting off her hoof. When she noticed that the devil was glaring at her, fuming and waving his tail angrily, she waved, giggling, before darting away into the maze built in the garden.

"Oh, if you hope to escape me me…" the devil growled, before roaring, startling again the noble ponies, and running off into the maze.

"Do ya think we have to help Pinkie?" asked Applejack to the little devil on the ground, that was still laughing a little.

"I don't… I don't think so… oh god, a three floors cake! Priceless!"

"But… but last time you did something like that… he… he stabbed you in the eyes with forks and tossed you into a lightning storm…" considered Fluttershy, shrugging a little.

"Listen, he's not really mad, trust me." Tried to reassure the little demon, noticing the worried expressions that the mares were displaying.

"How can you tell, darling?" asked Rarity, ignoring the voices of the pompous unicorns around them.

"Well… that's a maze, right? If he was really angry, he would have flown over it to catch Pinkie. Instead, they are just playing tag. I think he's just enjoying all of this." Said the devil, with a confident smile. Then he scratched his cheek. "Even if I doubt he'll ever admit it."

-oOo-

The devil walked slowly through the maze, without breathing. He didn't want to have the sniffing ability as an advantage. He slipped between the shadows of the hedges, only lit by the light of the enormous moon in the sky, accompanied by a multitude of shimmering stars. The sounds from the gala were vanishing little by little, and eventually he could hear only his light steps on the grass. He was surprised: if she wanted, Pinkie could be extremely silent.

"Come out come out, wherever you are…" he whispered, but only a couple of crickets answered to him, raising their annoying cry in the air. The devil licked his lips, fighting the urge to sniff the air to catch the cotton candy perfume that always warned him of her presence.

"I'm not going to cheat…. what fun is there in that?" he murmured to himself, slurping a little bit of frosting from his face. Still walking slowly, his ears raised, as he arrived in a little clearing in the maze, where a low fountain was surmounted by a statue of Celestia, a happy stream of water pouring from its horn. Suddenly, a pink blur smashed against the devil's chest. The impact was so strong that Noxfero stumbled to the ground, losing his balance and ending in the fountain's pool, hitting his nape on the statue's base.

His vision got dizzy from the acute pain and the water on his face, while his body was engulfed in cold water, as well as the pink creature tangled to his stomach. He raised his head from the water, his eyes covered by his wet hair, his ears twitching at the sound of laughter. He managed to move away his hair, facing Pinkie Pie, standing over his sprawled body, her dress drenched in water as well as her mane, giggling at the devil. He opened his mouth, trying to find something to say. Then he closed it, and giggled. A soft, low giggle. But it was enough to make the pink mare stop. She suddenly stared at him with her big cyan eyes, before an enormous smile appeared on her muzzle.

"I did it!" she exclaimed, raising her hooves in the air, losing her balance and falling on Noxfero's chest.

"What did you do?"asked the demon, still giggling. The mare looked at him with her bog, happy eyes, an even bigger smile on her face.

"I made you smile!" she answered simply.

The devil blinked, then laughed: it was true. It was the first time in years he was smiling and laughing not in an evil or mocking tone, but just out of happyness. His muscles were already crying in pain, but he didn't care: he cared that his smile was making the mare in front of him smile even more.

"Thank you, Pinkie." Murmured the devil, stopping his laughter, drying a tear that had appeared in his eyes due to the laughter. The mare just smiled. The demon looked at her, with a soft smile on his face, looking into those enormous, sapphire irises…

"What the hell man?! What the hell do you think you are doing?!" growled a voice in the back of his head. "She got you to smile and all, but don't even think about it! Don't even try to think about it!". The mare tilted her head, and began to stare into the demon's scarlet eyes, without caring for her drenched dress and mane.

"She is a horse, for fuck sake!" screamed the voice. But one time, a good minion told him that sometimes certain feelings go past the body's shape…

"Come on! And by the way, evil can't have feelings!" cried the voice, this time in a lower tone. But his own boss one time told him that believing that evil couldn't have feelings was the best way to understimate it…

The devil hesitantly raised his hand, and slowly stroked the mare's cheek. She stayed motionless, still looking into the devil's eyes. He licked his lips, faintly.

"Just do it!" he ordered to himself. "The worst that can happen is you get a black eye." He sat a little more upright, still facing the mare. He leaned a little more towards Pinkie. And she did the same.

"Pinkie…I… I think I may be…." Began the devil, starting to breathe harder.

And in that moment, with a sound similar to the scratch of breaking ice, the sky above the castle cracked, as a long, shimmering blue fissure appeared in midair.


	17. End of the dream

"What's that thing?" asked Rainbow Dash, looking at the shimmering crack.

"Ah don't know, but ah have the impression that it's not anything good." Grunted Applejack, stepping up beside her. The princesses glared at the sky, trying to look through to the other side.

"I don't like this, sister…" murmured Luna, gulping. Celestia nodded, before turning towards Shining Armor.

"Commander Armor, please led all the civilians away, and alert the guards. Even if I doubt they didn't notice that… thing by now…" she said, opening her wings.

Suddenly, the crack began to shimmer even brighter, before streams of fire began to squirt out of it.

"Everypony, behind us!" ordered the white alicorn, spreading her wings, emulated by Luna, as a golden shield began to form around their horns. The ponies began to panic, running chaotically behind the princess, as the streams of fire began to grow even bigger.

"What's happening, princess?" asked Twilight in panic, running up to her mentor's side.

"I'd like to know too Twilight. Go with the other elements, and use a shield spell for whoever you can…" managed to say the princess, nearly shouting to be heard over the scream of the crowd.

"Come here everypony! Don't panic!"

"Where is Pinkie?!" asked Fluttershy scared, looking around.

"Where is my sombrero?!" cried in anguish Jaco, running around.

The scar in the ski flexed, as an enormous, flaming… something, darted out of it, heading to the ground. The meteor-thing hit the ground a few feet away from the princesses shield, without blowing up or anything that the ponies expected. Instead, it did something that the ponies did NOT expect: as soon as the flames flickered down, the thing revealed to be some sort of giant.

"What in the living hay is that?!" exclaimed Luna, receiving a quick, amused glance from her sister. The thing was around six meters tall, the skin reddish-black, his general structure similar to the devil's that they had met. The most peculiar differences were the hairy, goaty legs, ending in a couple of black hooves, two enormous flaming wings, two long curved horns pointing out from his forehead… and the fact that the thing had three faces on his head.

"Where is he?!" boomed the three voices from his mouths, while the six eyes focused on the little ponies in front of him. Most of them just panicked, beginning to run around screaming.

"Oh, hey, look who is here, it's good ol' Sa-" began Jaco, before being trampled over by the crowd.

"Where is he?!" roared again the voices, as the creature took a step towards the shield, emitting a stream of black, thick smoke from his enormous wings. Fluttershy whimpered and cowered in fear.

"Oi boss!" cried Noxfero, running out from the maze, followed by Pinkie. "Take away the scary set-up. They are not enemies!" The creature turned, looking at the devil, blinking slowly. Then, in a heartbeat, the giant was gone: instead, there was a creature far more similar to Noxfero, even if a little short, and apparently older. He was dressed in a white, elegant suit with a scarlet tie and a white bowler pressed on his head, where there was a trail of snowy hair that matched his faint mustache and pointy beard.

"Well, then, I'm sorry to have startled all of you, nice lady…horse…pegasus unicorn thing…" he muttered, raising an eyebrow giving a look to Celestia, before turning towards the other devil.

"Is Jaco around here? That scientist of yours set the coordinates to get near you, not near him."

"I'm here, I'm here!" cried the little devil, jumping out of the crowd of terrified ponies and jumping towards the pair, smiling.

"Hi there!" he chirped, smiling at the aged man.

"What are you doing here? And by the way, how in the hell did Pumpkinhead manage to rebuild the portal?" asked Noxfero, scratching his head, while trying to adjust his wet raincoat. The other devil looked at him for a couple of seconds.

"Junior managed to find a way to build it again. I don't know how, ask him. He's actually powering it, and asked me to get you." He answered calmly. "And that scarecrow said that the portal would have lasted for at most ten minutes, so, move your ass." he added.

"I…what?" asked the devil, blinking. Behind him, Pinkie's eyes widened, while the other mares exchanged confused looks.

"Did you become deaf in these months? Let's go back. You have an awful lot of paperwork to do, as well as a check of your floor." Said calmly the creature, glaring at Noxfero with his azure eyes. The devil opened his mouth, trying to reply. But he couldn't, and he knew that. His mouth opened in a big, devious smile.

"Well, it's about time, just give me a sec." He said, grinning. The other one just nodded slightly.

"Just want to say goodbye to the most disgusting life forms I have ever encountered… but at least, they made my stay here easier." Snickered the devil, sliding towards the mares.

"Such a bunch of useless critters, you know boss? Even more worthless than angels. With such annoying traits. Like this nerdy, annoying know-it-all mare… or the redneck applebucker over there, illiterate as she is filthy. Or the other annoying little flying bitch, bragging and boasting about her incapability to be something good. Then we slide a little bit over here, to the marshmallow with the legs and horn, a total sissy, concentrating on a lot of useless stuff like dressing, in a town where everyone goes around naked. And here, hiding behind her ass, there is the rat of the group. Nothing else to say, you can see for yourself." Said the devil, floating lazily around the group of mares, sustained by some strings of shadows, while the mares were staring at him with hurted and angry looks. He snickered, before moving towards Pinkie Pie.

"And last, but not least, the greatest drug addict I have ever met. So focused on making others smile she doesn't even realize they're all just laughing at her." he said sweetly in a mocking tone. Pinkie's eyes teared up, as she sat on the ground, sniffing.

"Well, I'm done. Let's get out of here!" said the demon coldly, grabbing his minion with his tail and placing him in a pocket. He opened his wings and flapped them, then darted into the sky. His companion in white clothing made a little bow with his head towards the princesses, then darted into the sky without any apparent means after Noxfero.

"What just happened…?" asked the cyan pegasus, looking at the tiny figures of the two disappearing in the shimmer.

"Ah… Ah don't know… Ah think he just left us…" murmured Applejack, watching as the scar in the sky disappeared.

"Oh… oh my…Pinkie, a-are you alright?" asked sweetly the other pegasus, running towards the crying mare. Pinkie just nodded, cleaning her tears and forcing a smile.

"He… he's such a bad liar, isn't he?" she said, looking at the now clear sky.

"Indeed, my dear." Rarity nodded, joining her and levitating a handkerchief towards the pink pony's eyes.

"Yeah. Does he really believe we'll hate him for some stupid lies like those?" added Twilight, looking at the crying mare, followed by the two princesses.

"I…I'm sorry he'll miss my birtday, though…."

-oOo-

With a shower of sparks, Noxfero darted out of the portal, closing his wings and opening again his eyes: they focused on the grim and dark dungeon walls that surrounded him. At his side appeared his boss, calm and collected, while as soon he appeared the blue shimmer that was the portal disappeared in a fizzle.

"I'll be waiting for your fixed paperwork and a total review of your floor in a week on my desk." He said calmly, before turning towards the scarecrow that was emerging from behind a console.

"Dismount this thing and send the pieces to the dump. I don't want to hear this story ever again."

"Yes sir! Of course sir!" exclaimed Pumpkinhead, saluting. The other one nodded, before disappearing in a flash of flames. From behind the console emerged Junior, who stared at his dad, with his frown still on his face.

"Welcome back home, dad." He said, glaring at the motionless figure of his father.

"I… yes… thank you Junior… I.. I think I'll go to my room for a little bit… Jac, do you mind…?" Noxfero said, gulping and passing hand over his face. The little devil nodded, jumping out of the pocket where he was. The bigger devil darted away, as soon his minion left his raincoat.

"Oh, look at him, so happy to be back!" chirped the scarecrow, while extracting a saw to begin to cut the two columns of the portal down.

"Jac, did he fucked wherever you were, or should I call Lilith? As a welcome home gift." asked Junior, moving his gaze to Jaco. The little devil just sighed.

"No, he did not. And I honestly thought he had found something better than that." he said, before walking away up the stairs of the dungeon, leaving Junior with a surprised and confused frown on his face.

-oOo-

Pumpkinhead moved the truck with the remains of the portal backwards, until the back was over the pit where all the waste of Hell was tossed. He huffed looking to make sure he was in the spot indicated by the dump's administrator, and then pressed a button, letting the truck pour into the pit all the pieces.

"Another job well done!" he exclaimed, smiling, before starting the engine and driving away, returning to the castle. The air of the pit remained still for a couple of minutes before, out of the shadows, a group of five humanoid figures with black skin and flames for hair jumped into the dump, beginning to retrieve the pieces while a skeleton and a horned cloaked figure stayed at the edge.

"Retrieve all the pieces. Don't miss even one, or well… you know what will happen to you." ordered the cloaked figure in a cold voice. The skeleton at his side tilted his skull a little.

"May I know why you want that portal's remains? We don't even know where the portal will bring us." He asked in a respectful tone.

"Satan tried to get rid of it, so it's something that scares him. And whatever scares him, I have to get." Growled the cloaked figure. "You'll fix it in the best way you can, and we'll see how to use it."

"As you wish, master Mephistopheles."

Oo-oO

Yay,first fic finished. Yay to me! So, do you like it? I hope so. Leave a review to tellme if you liked it or felt it as a waste of time. And also, if you could be interested in a sequel. (I'm going to do it anyway, but just to know if you like the idea. and to know what kind of things you'd like to see.) Untill next time, readers.

Oh, and special thanksto BlackRoseRaven for beta reading all the chapters.


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